#cross posted on quotev

[knightprincess]

Softness Suits You (Tech x GN! Reader)

Words: 2k Warnings: None - unless you count Kriff and Karabast as swearing. Note: Gender Neutral - Use of You and (Y/N) A part of the Bad Batch Gift Exchange @cloneficgiftexchange For: @theunderscorekinginyellow Prompt: "Softness Suits You"

“(Y/N),” called Tech, skidding to a halt as he rounded the corner. Blaster fire passed the corner mere seconds later. “Now is not the time to give up on me,” he commented, pulling you back to your feet. You’d slipped down the durasteel wall you’d been learning against with a sharp groan of pain, an arm tightly wound around your midsection, the other putting pressure on another unseen wound hidden beneath your armor and the layers of fabric. 

“Wasn’t the time for the plan to go wrong either,” (Y/N) voiced, recalling how the mission had gone sideways quickly. “We went over the plan five times,” you grumbled, blowing out an agonized sigh as the stabbing pain grew in strength. 

“I got the package, didn’t I?” responded Wrecker, the sound of blaster fire being exchanged echoing through the com. 

“Anyone injured?” came Hunter’s smokey voice. Omega’s innocent one followed, celebrating after hitting another target with her energy bow. Echo soon confirmed he and Wrecker were slightly banged up, but nothing serious. Their main problem was being pinned down. 

“(Y/N) got hit, unsure how serious it is,” announced Tech, seemingly ignoring your comment that you were okay. Even when it was evidently obvious you were anything but. You were losing blood, feeling dizzy and shaky, and could barely stand on your own two feet, and Tech had stated you looked paler than usual. 

“Tech, get (Y/N) back to the Marauder,” demanded Echo, his voice severe and unyielding. The job for Sid meant little compared to the life of a friend. 

“Omega will meet you there,” said Hunter. The young clone’s protests shortly followed his words. “That’s an order,” he added, slipping into a mix of his previous Sargent Mode and that of a protective father figure trying to protect their child and family. “The rest of us Plan 13.” 

“Oh yeah,” exclaimed Wrecker, launching into the attack on droids and mercenaries alike. The human wrecking ball wasted little time running head-first into the battle again. His actions a reminder of his days as a soldier of the GAR, back when everything was simpler before the dark times began to strangle the galaxy. 

“Oh brother,” mutters Echo before readying himself to rejoin the battle before him. Pushing aside the memories of the many food fights on Kamino before it was bombarded and forgotten about—memories of his brothers of the Domino Squad, 501st, and Bad Batch. 

“Ready?” asked Tech, placing his D17s in the holsters for the time being, reaching for your arm to pull you back to your feet. Directing the arm around his neck as his own snaked around your midsection. Hearing the sharpness in your breath as you began to limp forward. The pilot soon pulled the yellow-tinted screen of his helmet down, scanning you over to get a clear idea of the damage and injuries sustained.

“What’s the prognosis, Doctor?” sarcastically asked (Y/N), your eyes glazing over as you become confused and disorientated. “Is it as bad as Crosshair’s friction burns from the Skako mission?” you asked with a light chuckle, wincing shortly after with the pain shooting through your ribs. 

“I would argue that was worse,” answered Tech, recalling Crosshair grumbling for days afterward—even more so when Wrecker refused to let him forget about it. “However, this is a close second,” he said, trying to keep your spirits up and offer a distraction from your injuries and dire state. 

“Damn. I was hoping to top him this time,” replied (Y/N), as if you had forgotten Crosshair wasn’t there. Instead, he had chosen to return to the Empire, even after they had bombarded Tipoca City with all of them inside. “Still working on that plan to get him back,” you add with the smallest of grins. 

“Crosshair … chose a different path. We have to accept that, even if we don’t agree with it,” spoke Tech with a prang of sadness. Thankful when the Marauder came into view, Omega was already on the steps, waving at them with a small smile of her own. At least until it hit her, Tech was all but keeping you up now. 

“What happened?” questioned Omega, quickly running back up the steps, moving to get the medical kit stowed away aboard the ship. At the same time, Tech pulled (Y/N) over to the sleeping racks upon getting you aboard. Nodding to Omega in thanks, when she brought the medical kit over to him, he reached for stem cells and bacta gel in hopes of aiding the healing process. 

“We could use a lift,” came the booming voice of Echo, the coms lighting up with the disagreement between the Arc Trooper, Hunter, and Wrecker. 

“That with or without Omega hanging from the ship and me falling out or over something?” asked (Y/N), doing your best to lighten the dreary mood and keep Omega from seeing just how bad things were. You had a soft spot for the kid and the boys. 

“It was an unscheduled study break,” Tech voiced in response. At least explaining Omega hanging from the ship. A smirk appeared across his lips upon remembering the two separate incidences regarding (Y/N) falling over something and falling from the ship completely. “And momentarily lapse in coordination.” 

“Just patching (Y/N) up, then we’ll be there,” announced Omega, keeping the trio of Hunter, Echo, and Wrecker in the loop. 

“This is going to hurt,” stated Tech, receiving a (Y/N) famous deadpan look in response. At least informing him, he was pointing out the obvious again, without calling the exceptionally minded clone by the normal nickname. Captain Obvious. 

“You mean more than it already does?” You asked, the next part of your comment forgotten as the bacta gel burned like someone had poured the lavas of Mustafar into your open wounds. “Kriff!” 

“Language” worded Wrecker via the comm link. 

“Aurebesh,” you replied, much to Omega’s amusement. Tech could only shake his head and roll his golden eyes. 

“Switch out the words, (Y/N),” spoke Hunter, once again the familiar sound of blaster fire following his words, hinting at the trouble the trio was in now. 

“Yes, Papa Hunter. Next time, I’ll use Karabast,” quickly shot (Y/N), not noticing Tech had stepped close with an anesthetic, at least not until he caught you with it. 

“Rest for now (Y/N). Omega and I can handle the extraction,” announced Tech. He made sure you were lying comfortably on his rack before heading to the cockpit with Omega. The young clone gave Gonky his own mission to watch over you while you slept. 

When (Y/N) finally woke up, the Marauder was on stable ground, and the ship was quiet—too quiet. The only noise was Gonky waddling the length of the ship with the normal “Gonk” on repeat, although the droid did seem to be pestering Tech, who sat at the communications desk just in front of the sleeping racks. 

“Where’s the others?” you asked with a cracked and broken voice. Your throat was dry and scratchy from the lack of use. Slowly, you moved your head to look around the ship. The cockpit was empty, void of Echo and Wrecker. The rear gunner's port had no Omega resting there, although Lula and her little clone trooper were. Hunter was nowhere to be seen either. Only Tech and Gonky were there. 

“Wrecker and Omega are following through with their tradition,” Tech replied, standing and walking over, an unreadable expression painted on his features. The moment he reached you, he placed a soft hand on your forehead, relief washing over him minutes later. "Hunter and Echo are delivering the package to Sid.” 

“How long was I out?” you asked. Then it hit you: You were no longer on Eadu but instead back on Ord Monell. 

“Just over a day,” started Tech, helping you sit up. “I’d appreciate it if we didn’t repeat what happened,” he added, pushing his goggles back up the bridge of his nose. 

“I’m not gonna let you get shot, Tech, and I did tell you to leave me,” argued (Y/N), feeling relief now the majority of your pain was gone, either nulled by the anesthetic or washed away by the bacta healing the wounds. 

“We don’t leave our own behind,” stated Tech, a matter of factly, with a pointer finger raised, as if to drill it into your head and make it stick. “The others are fine as well. Wrecker still thinks the scans are invisible spiders,” he added, allowing his stiffness to melt a little upon hearing your small ring of laughter. 

“Hunter and Echo still the parents?” (Y/N) asked, side-eyeing and suspicious, just in case something had changed while you were out for the count. 

“Careful (Y/N), your softer side is showing,” joked Tech. “Either that, or you hit your head harder than I thought.” 

“Or I’m high as a kite and hallucinating,” you commented. 

“Not lost your sense of humor, " Echo said upon boarding the ship. A scratch now donning his cheek below the left eye. However, the worry plaguing him now seemed to melt away. 

“Mustafar would freeze over before that happened,” (Y/N) replied with a small smile, “Or Hoth would warm up.” You quietened for a few minutes before it hit you: Tech had said your soft side was showing. Didn’t it always when you were around your found family? “Wait, what you mean my softer side is showing?” you questioned, hearing Echo chuckle as he held his hands up in surrender before walking off to the cockpit. 

“I don’t mean to offend you,” started Tech, suddenly uncomfortable, even more so when his hopes of you missing his words were dashed. “Normally, when out in the field or around Sid, you appear like Crosshair, stoic, cold, and armed with snide comments for enemies and sarcastic ones to lighten the mood,” he rambled, hoping to explain away what he now saw as a blunder. 

“Tech,” you softly call, a sweet grin appearing now as you made it apparent you weren’t offended by the comment, merely curious. 

“I thought it was obvious. Softness suits you,” directed Tech, 

“Will you two make it official already?” voiced Wrecker as he and Omega returned to the ship. Hunter followed along behind, slightly confused by the comment but smirking nonetheless. 

“Way to ruin the mood, Wrecker,” (Y/N) replied. “I’m recruiting Omega to help terrorize you the next time you go speed dating.” 

“That was one time.” 

“Wrecker went speeding dating?” questioned Echo 

“Yup, It’s right up there with Hunter and Crosshair waking up handcuffed in a fountain,” you reply, hearing Omega laughing, 

“I hate your memory right now,” commented Hunter, his cheeks redding as he sat down at his normal spot. 

“Please do tell me more,” commented Echo, knowing he and Fives got up to some crazy things, along with Kix, Hardcase, and Jesse, things he often got a chuckle out of when he allowed himself to remember them. However, he wanted to know more about what the rest of the batch got up to during the war. 

“No! I’m gonna die of embarrassment,” replied Wrecker, recalling the speeding dating disaster. Their first shore leave after joining the war effort. (Y/N) as their Jedi had told them to have fun, not expecting to get a call from Fox informing you, your squad was spending the night in detention. 

“Wasn’t that bad” replied Tech, trying to soothe the situation. Although he’d admit you laughing from behind him wasn’t helping. 

“I want to hear about it,” Omega called, her sweet, innocent voice seemingly breaking through. Hunter and Wrecker shared a glance, knowing (Y/N) couldn’t deny the young clone anything, although, thankfully, you told the stories in a child-friendly way. 

“Was that the one I have no memory of?” asked Tech, recalling they’d gotten up to a lot of mischief. He’d personally set off a few security breaches from hacking sensitive information. Wrecker had set so many alarms off with his explosives that the Coruscant Guard had come to expect it and, at points, used it as a training exercise. Hunter and Crosshair found themselves in contests with different goals. Meanwhile, (Y/N) collectively named everything the Lame Game. 

“Yup,” replied (Y/N), popping the p. “Never did find out how you ended up black-out drunk under the booth table. Or why you were wearing Wolffe’s helmet?” You laughed. 

“Tech’s right; Softness does suit you,” replied Hunter, the smallest of grins appearing across his lips as he got comfortable, ready to relive the embarrassing moments of the past. “You’re still the best storyteller, though.”

KnightPrincess Masterlist

#bad batch gift exchange #star wars #star wars fanfictions #star wars fic #star wars oneshot #reader insert #the bad batch #reader interactive #x reader #x you #fluff #hurt #comfort #soft tech #tech bad batch #omega bad batch #hunter bad batch #wrecker bad batch #echo bad batch #gender neutral reader #tech x gn reader #tech x reader #cross posted on ao3 #cross posted on deviantart #cross posted on inkitt #cross posted on quotev #cross posted on wattpad #cross posted on neobook #cross posted on novlr

[fensherohair]

The Maraurders & The Metamorphic Witch (Part 13)

Words: 1.8k Warning: None Pronouns Used: She/Her - Use of Y/N

Things seemed to quiet down in Gryffindor Tower as the summer holidays approached. However, the same couldn't be said outside of it. Allegra and her group of friends had quickly built a reputation, a bad one at that. Their ideas of "jokes" often resulted in tears or things only the group of girls found funny, although they ceased to see amusement in any of it the moment the same logic was turned on them, normally by the Marauders, although Severus had occasionally done it in defense of Lily. 

"You guys promise to write over the holidays?" asked Isolde, a soft tone to her voice as she looked around her group of friends. From the boys who so often caused mischief to the girls, she shared a dorm with. Sure, not all of them got along, but at least it wasn't World War Three. Lily and James were often going back and forth about something, with James all but pining after Lily and the fiery redhead ignoring him in favor of her friendship with Severus. The Marauders had bestowed each other with little nicknames and slowly started to find themselves over the last year. Their friendship had grown, and each had started to notice those around them more. 

"Who else am I going to pester?" asked (Y/N) with a mischievous grin. "Plus, you know Hunter is gonna send letters, too," she added, as laughter rang from her lips. Isolde's cheeks heated up with a pinkish/red highlight as she was reminded of her friends knowing about her dating life. 

"You can pester me," commented Sirius as he came to sit next to (Y/N), Remus squashing himself between (Y/N) and Marlene with a victorious grin. Marlene smiled sweetly as she reached for a bowl of her favorite jelly. 

"Save me the nightmares and just date already," commented James, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose before pulling out the parchment once stashed away in the inside pocket of his robes. "Wait, where's Lily? Didn't she come down with you girls?" he asked, ruffling his hair as if to give the illusion he'd just stepped off his broom again. 

"Careful Prongs, your image is slipping," replied Peter, as if to poke fun at one of his best friends. Once again, he wore his favorite striped sweater, the one with Gryffindors colors. 

"What image is that exactly?" asked Marlene, a playful grin appearing across her lips before the laughter escaped her. James could only send her a deadpan glare, although a smile soon cracked through. Of course, the girls would take the opportunity to poke fun at him; he'd done the same over the school year, particularly in the quiet moments. 

"The poet?" questioned (Y/N).

"I was thinking the lady's man ... you know, the one with the terrible flirting," commented Isolde with her own smile. 

"Be serious, guys," started Remus, happy to join in the fun. "Peter obliviously meant the bookworm image James had been working on over the year."

"And here I thought it was the star Quidditch Player and Master Mischief Maker one," voiced Sirius. 

"You guys are hurting my feelings," declared James, "Peter clearly meant my tough guy image. I can't help but care for you lot, even when you are experimenting and blowing things up regularly." 

"Come now, I hardly blow anything up these days. It's more boogy traps and pranks," replied (Y/N) with a small chuckle. "And helping you four with all your witchy needs when the time calls for it," she added, her smile unmoved as her eyes sparkled that little bit more. 

"Or in detention," replied Peter quickly, receiving another chuckle from (Y/N), and she nodded in confirmation and pointed over as if to declare he was right. 

"Ow!" exclaimed Isolde as something collided with the side of her head. Looking at the table, she was met with a screwed-up piece of parchment that appeared to have tape wrapped around it. However, when she picked it up, it seemed heavier than normal, as if something had been hidden inside it, perhaps a stone or a smaller rock. 

Peter let out a tiny, scared squeak the moment his eyes landed on the group of girls set on terrorizing the castle, him included. He'd still yet to get over Samantha's claim of dating. Nor had he been able to shake the rumors of such the rest of the girls had been spreading. Despite his best efforts, the young wizard has yet to work out what they want from him. He couldn't offer them anything, he wasn't popular, there was nothing special about him. He was just another pureblood wizard, terrified of being alone and the brewing war; he just wanted to live his days at Hogwarts, learn to be a wizard, and figure out what he wanted to do when he left school. 

"You okay, Peter?" asked Hunter upon joining the group and taking Lily's place. As was the norm, the redhead girl sat on the opposite side of the hall with Severus. There was little doubt the two were making plans for the holidays. The same thing he did with his friends from Hufflepuff and with Isolde. At least when the family wasn't on trips, whether to muggle amusement parks or attend family functions. 

"I still don't get it," said James as he looked between the Wolffe siblings. He could see the similarities and features they shared—everyone could—yet they were so different everywhere else. One was a well-rounded fifth-year student, popular and smart, and a seeker for Hufflepuff, a school prefect. The other was a mischievous third-year, clumsy but incredibly smart, a thorn in the side of professors and fellow students alike but a brilliant chaser for Gryffindor's Quidditch team. 

"Get what?" asked Remus, allowing curiosity to get the better of him. He soon understood the comment when he followed James' line of sight as it flicked between Hunter and (Y/N). 

"(Y/N)'s a metamorphagi, so she's naturally more clumsy, mischievous, and curious. Mom and Dad neutered it and encouraged us both to be who we are," answered Hunter, reaching to tighten his red bandana, waving to a few students of his own year when they passed. "Mom always said the mischief came from Dad's side of the family," laughed Hunter, recalling his parents' back-and-forth comments, normally as part of their banter. 

"Can't believe I'm only just asking this, but what do your parents do?" asked Sirius, asking the question he was sure Marlene, Isolde, or Lily would have asked long before now. Yet none of the boys had; it hadn't even crossed his mind to ask. Mainly because his own parents did little with all their free time; his mother rattled around the large house yelling about something; his father would be holed up in the office, attempting to write some book he'd been working on for years. 

"Mom's a potions master, and Dad's a magizoologist," replied (Y/N). "I get my curiosity about potions from her. There was always a bang or two when Mom was in the basement. A couple of smoke clouds on the odd occasion," she laughed as she remembered her mom calling. She was fine from the basement when something exploded. 

"That explains a lot," commented Peter. "You know we should all meet up sometime during the holidays," he added, his eyes lighting up at the idea. Sirius, Remus, and James were his best friends, but the girls were also close to him. Hunter, too, was growing on him. He didn't appear often, but when he did, it was easy to get along with him, as if it had been with (Y/N) before that. 

"Good idea," started Isolde, a soft grin coming to her lips as she nudged Hunter gently as if saying she'd be happy to spend more time with him. "You lot can swear me in on your secret plans," she laughed. "Lily, too, if we can ever get her back." 

"Secret plans?" asked Hunter, his attention quickly turning to his little sister again, just in time to see her ruffle Sirius's fluffy hair. It didn't seem to stop him from playing with her ever-changing locks, though. Instead, the pure-blood wizard flicked it on occasion before ruffling hers with a grin. 

"I think they mean the mischievous ones," replied Remus, knowing several plans were in place to cause more havoc and chaos during the following school year. Old Filch and the wicked witches Allegra had joined were the main targets, along with the odd Slytherin and anyone else who just happened to walk into the firing zone, whether that be a professor or a student. 

"Sure, it wasn't the laughing potion and snapping quill one?" asked Marlene in response, seeing utter confusion pass over James and Peter's features, much to the amusement of Sirius and (Y/N) when they finally paid attention. 

"Am I invited to your little pity party?" asked Allegra as she waltzed over to collect the screwed-up piece of paper with the rock tightly bound inside. She and her new friends had hoped to transfigure it into something else, something Isolde was terrified of, but it hadn't worked out that way. Every attempt had failed to hit its target. 

"Who's the Pumpkin Head over there?" asked Isolde, looking over to where Allegra's friends were gathered, only to see one of them with a Pumpkin Head, two of them struggling to move with jelly legs, and another two dangling upside down, as if an invisible line was holding them there. The other wasn't fairing any better, as it appeared as if her front teeth were growing larger by the second. 

"Process of elimination, I'd say that was Ulrica," replied James. 

"Snape and a few of his buddies are being idiots again," angrily spoke Allegra, missing Hunter's quiet sniggers, as if he knew the group of Slytherin boys weren't entirely responsible, at least not for all of it. Another two charms hit her before Allegra could continue with her rant or make the rude demands of those before her. One had a white shimmer to it, and the other had a blue spark. The first locked her legs together, causing her to tumble forward, whereas the other was by far the worst for Allegra, a singing charm. 

"Hunter" called (Y/N), as she tried to contain her laughter. 

"I'll hold my hands up to the Pumpkin Head, but the rest I'm surprisingly innocent of," replied Hunter, spotting Regulus and Mason giggling among their group of friends while pointing to the larger group of girls. 

"I guess you two rubbed off on Mason and Regulus," Marlene commented with a chuckle. She finds her brother's actions sweet in a way, although she feels as if she should be protecting him. He seemed determined to get payback on her bullies, particularly Allegra, who'd tormented her throughout their second year. 

"I'm so proud right now," said Sirius, although he'd unlikely say that in front of his parents. He would happily say it to Regulus before the train home reached Kings Cross. 

Series Masterlist

#wizarding world #x reader #sirius black #james potter #metamorphic reader #remus lupin #peter pettigrew #reader insert #sirius black x reader #lily evans #marlene mckinnon #marauders era #marauders #the marauders #oc characters #regulus black #cross posted on quotev #cross posted on wattpad #cross posted on ao3 #part 13

[healeroflightanddark]

Bonds of the Soul, Chapter 1: Defused

Yuya closed his eyes again and winced for what must have been the millionth time that day. His head was pounding in his head, and the slightest sound grated on his eardrums like nails on a chalkboard. Unfortunately for him, he was at school so he was unable to avoid the noise.

Yuto was trying to help Yuya in any way he could, but short of swapping places with him there was really nothing he could do. And Yuya wouldn’t let him swap places with him right now. He didn’t want any of his counterparts to suffer the way he was.

But his head was hurting so badly right now! He could hardly make out what his teacher was saying, and Yuri and Yugo were only making things worse by fighting in Yuya’s head.

“How do you know it’ll work?” Yugo demanded. “We’ve never done something like that before! I bet you’re just making stuff up!”

“Careful, you’re making Yuya’s head hurt worse!” Yuri said with a smirk. “Not that I don’t find his pain amusing!”

“Stop it both of you!” Yuto ordered, gently placing a ghostly hand on Yuya’s forehead in an attempt to comfort him.

Suddenly, the teacher noticed that Yuya wasn’t paying attention. Again. He threw a piece of chalk at the tomato-haired boy. Said tomato-haired boy didn’t even notice as the chalk hit him in the head through Yuto’s hand.

“Pay attention, Sakaki!” the teacher snapped. Yuya winced in pain at the wretched noise on his poor ears. The pain was starting to make him nauseous.

It was then that the teacher noticed that Yuya’s face was very pale. Suddenly it occurred to him that the boy may be sick. “Sakaki, are you feeling alright?” he asked.

“I-I… I—” Yuya couldn’t even muster a response. Then the pain in his head spiked so high that he passed out, his head hitting his desk with a painful sounding THUNK!

“Sakaki?” the teacher started towards Yuya, but then something very strange started happening. Yuya’s body started glowing and blurring a bit. Before anyone could react, his body seemed to split into four.

Yuto, Yuri, and Yugo now stood in completely visible and solid bodies around the still unconscious Yuya. Yuto immediately focused his attention on the passed out tomato, while Yuri and Yugo continued their fight.

“See? I told you it would work!” Yuri said smugly.

“You didn’t say it would hurt him!” Yugo yelled.

“He’ll be fiiiiine,” Yuri rolled his eyes.

“How do you know?” Yugo screeched.

“He better be fine,” Yuto said, glaring at Yuri. “If he’s permanently damaged—”

“Aw, look at you getting all protective of him!~” Yuri cooed. “It’s almost cute!~”

The rest of the class was just staring in silent shock. Sure, pretty much everyone in the city had heard that Yuya had absorbed three different versions of himself that had been living in his head, but not many of them had actually believed it! But now his three counterparts had clearly defused from him, leaving Yuya unconscious.

Yuto turned to the teacher, who was staring with wide eyes and his mouth agape. “Sorry about that…. We don’t know how long Yuya will be unconscious. I think it may be best if we take him home.”

“A-ah–ahuh—” the teacher couldn’t form any words as he nodded dumbly. Yuto turned back to Yuya and gently picked him up bridal style, holding him close to his chest. He started carrying Yuya towards the door as Yugo ran to open it and Yuri, after a moment’s consideration, grabbed Yuya’s belongings and followed.

They walked through the halls to the locker room in the front entrance of the school where the students stored their shoes. Yuto stopped in front of Yuya’s locker and frowned.

“One of you open his locker so we can change his shoes,” he said.

Yugo studied the combination lock. “Um, what’s his combination again…?”

“1-18-3-5,” Yuri recited boredly, examining his fingernails like the whole situation was beneath him.

Yugo put in the combination, making a sound of triumph when the lock clicked open. He opened the locker and pulled out Yuya’s street shoes. Yuto carefully sat down and took Yuya’s school shoes off, exchanging them for the street shoes. Yugo put the school shoes in the locker and locked it back up, and then the counterparts started on their way to Yuya’s house.

As they walked, the people they passed all did doubletakes and stared at them. Nobody knew what to make of the four counterparts. A few people even started to take photos, at least until Yuto gave them a very scary death glare.

About halfway to Yuya’s house, Yugo suddenly asked, “So, uh, how are we going to explain this to Yuya’s parents, exactly?”

Yuto sighed. “We’ll just tell them what we know, and hope they understand. They seem like nice people. They definitely love Yuya.”

Yuri smirked, imagining the look on Yusho’s face when he saw them. Oh boy, he couldn’t wait!

#cross posted on ao3 #cross posted on deviantart #cross posted on fanfiction.net #cross posted on quotev #cross posted on wattpad #yugioh arc v #yugo #yuri #yuto #yuya sakaki #dimensionshipping #post canon

[kitcattales]

Something There - Akaza x Fem! Reader Chapter 4: By Ceramic Teapots

Author's note: Chapter 6 is officially up on AO3 and my other cross-posting sites, so here's chapter 4 for ya'll! \nwn/ Hope you guys enjoy it! As always, warnings and related tags can be found in chapter 1 or you can check out a more thorough list of warnings and tags on AO3! <3 Thanks for making it this far and happy reading~! <3 God bless! <3

CHAPTER ONE, CHAPTER THREE

Cross-posts: AO3, FFN, Wattpad and Quotev

Word count: 15,412

Chapter 4: By Ceramic Teapots

The Mugen Train Station was crowded this evening.

The warm, golden glow of the station lights above were as they had been last: guiding and disorienting all at the same time. Busy people leading busy lives kept walking, coming and going, tickets in hand. Groups and couples walked leisurely along the platform towards their destinations while enjoying the quaint sights around them, as did many singles. Although, interwoven amongst the calm individuals, there certainly were some patrons hastily beelining through the crowds towards wherever their busy lives were taking them.

_______ could hear the chattering of the people, discussing things she couldn’t quite make out. Some seemed content, others happier, others more serious, but they were all in their own bubbles leading lives she’d never get to know about.

Looking down, she noted she was seated on the same metal bench she had been on the last time she was here. She could tell, because it was three seats down from the end of the station platform. She placed a hand on the empty seat beside her, thoughtfully rubbing her thumb against its metal surface. It felt cold to the touch, denying her the warmth she had hoped to find in the familiar spot and replacing it with something she was scared of becoming accustomed to.

Her eyes closed, wanting to block out the sight of the empty seat at her side. In its place, she listened to the crowds instead. Their chatter was so distinct to her, but at the same time, muffled. No matter how clearly she felt she could hear the people around her, she couldn’t make a single word out of whatever it was they were talking about; not about destinations nor loved ones waiting for them nor exciting adventures they were looking forward to. It almost felt like she was eavesdropping on the world from underwater, the voices of life above the surface muffled by crashing, deafening waves.

She didn’t know how she was meant to fight against the waves. It felt like there was an enormous glass pane on the surface of the water which blocked her path, keeping her trapped beneath the surf. No matter what she did to beat the glass pane, no matter how much she tried to scream beyond it, the whitecaps continued to pull her under and beckon her into silence.

At some point, she stopped trying to fight against it all. She didn’t care about the waves nor the surf nor the whitecaps. It all simply was, and she simply had to live with it.

The sound of the wind, however, never swept her by without gathering her attention.

It toyed with her hair, ruffling and braiding it playfully within its wispy fingers while it cooed for her companionship. It was hard to deny its call, so she caved in and chose to follow. Opening her eyes, she turned her head the direction in which the wind guided her. At first glance, the sight was the same as last time. Beyond the vacant tracks of the Mugen Train Station, the forest which outlined the progressive city stared back at her. She almost closed her eyes to it, almost rejected its very existence as muffled and gray as the people walking on the platform around her, but before her lashes fluttered, a familiar detail caught her eye.

Curiously, she leaned forward in her seat, her elbows resting on her knees for leverage. The wind picked up once more with her movements, and the wispy being began to dance and play with the leaves of the trees, their giggles carried out in the atmospheric night to greet her with longing.

The trees with which the wind danced were not the tall cypresses she knew of bordering the train station.

No, instead, the wind had embraced itself hand-in-hand with mighty cedars.

Cedars of the cedar woods she was well-acquainted with.

She drew in a slow, deep breath as she stared towards the dark, familiar forest and released it through her slightly parted lips. The way the tall cedars waved at her with their friendly yet mischievous branches called for her, wishing to have her join them and the wind in a cordial dance of reunion, but she didn’t move herself from her seat. Rather, she simply continued to watch, her eyes scanning the individual tree trunks lining the outskirts of the newly bordering forest.

Watching the woods caused for her chest both to ache and soothe. The vacancy of the train tracks between herself and the tree line ominously reminded her of what had happened or what was yet to come in this strange land she found herself in. The emptiness and the truth behind it caused those rusted strings within her to strum with vigor, just as they had done the night before, and it was nearly enough to make her curl into herself on the bench. The problem was, she didn’t want to allow herself to break down on the platform surrounded by so many people preoccupied in their own lives just as much as she was. She didn’t want the attention – nor did she want to be a disruption.

Instead, she clasped her hands together, fingers intertwined. She took in another deep breath, though this one painfully stung at her throat and lungs. Her heart felt like it was hammering into infinity within her chest, ringing in her ears, crying out for help. Her eyes burned with the threat of tears for what felt like the millionth time, but she forced herself to maintain her composure.

She had been crying far too much as of late.

She felt ashamed for it.

What right did she have to cry when she was still alive?

Denying herself the human right, she simply did everything within her to keep her thousand-yard stare on the cedar woods and off of the station platform.

She felt…afraid.

She was scared that, if she allowed herself to look back, if she allowed herself to properly look at the warm, gold lights and the hustle and bustle of the pedestrians passing her by, she would be forced to relive that moment again.

She already knew what would happen in this story.

She already knew how the hero’s journey would end.

She already knew the conclusions, the what ifs and everything in between.

She didn’t need to see it happen again. She was afraid to. Her entire being hurt so much already – it was excruciating, what she felt she was going through. The cords wrapped and wound so tightly around her heart strummed and orchestrated no matter how much she tried to stop them. The vibrations of their melancholic melody ached and pained her bones with their echo, forcing quakes within her she couldn’t control. If someone saw her, they might think she felt cold in the evening air, but that wasn’t it. At least, not in the way they thought.

The cedar woods, however, offered her comfort.

It hurt to look at them, because they reminded her of her journey through their depths and what had occurred within them. Yet…they also brought her a soothing sense of warmth. It was something she felt deep guilt for, finding comfort in the forest of demons thanks to the peculiar existence of the Third Upper Moon, but it was all she had right now to keep her as steady and contained as she could manage.

As long as she kept her eyes on the woods and her mind on the comfort Akaza allowed her to borrow, she wouldn’t have to relive anything. She wouldn’t have to remember memories she’d rather forget. She wouldn’t have to accept a reality she woke up hoping was a terrible nightmare each and every day.

She hated how much her chest hurt. She hated the feelings of immense pain and grief she constantly felt constricting her being, making it harder and harder to breathe with each day that passed her by. She didn’t want to feel any of it anymore. No matter how empty she thought she felt, the pain always returned one way or another, and it stuck to her like a curse. It leeched off of her life, consumed her in ways she couldn’t describe. It was a parasite morphing into her body, becoming her and turning her into it, pushing her further into a bed of questionable choices that never led to any proper solutions. If she allowed it to continue this way, she wouldn’t exist anymore. She nearly got to that end last night already. Somehow, someway, she needed to find a way to bury those feelings. She needed to dig that hole in the ground as deep as she could go, until she met with the molten core of the planet, and there, she needed to bury those feelings until they were lost forever and she felt nothing in their place.

That’s what she wanted most: to feel nothing.

As she struggled to stay afloat within those thoughts, she felt a large, strong hand come to rest upon her shoulder, an intense and comforting warmth instantly soaking into her being where it touched.

“You need to allow yourself to feel those emotions, young _______, no matter how much they might hurt right now.”

Rengoku’s voice softly remarked from behind her, causing for her hazed, pained eyes to widen. A knot in her stomach tightened as she felt him lovingly squeeze her shoulder, and a ripple effect followed in the form of a harsh quiver upon her person. A grimace of pain molded the look of emptiness away from her face as her rusted strings strummed ever louder within herself.

She knew it was him before he even spoke. By the touch of his hand and the warmth of his palm which radiated with nothing but love and comfort, she knew it was him – his voice only served to confirm what she already knew.

Still, she refused to look away from the cedar woods.

She was too scared to look. If she looked, it would be real. If she allowed herself the chance, she’d feel it all over again. She couldn’t do it. She didn’t have the strength to watch it happen again. So, she continued to keep the cedars company the same way the being within it kept her, her only reply to her dear mentor and friend being a pitiful whimper.

Rengoku clearly didn’t mind.

Rather, he simply chose to meet her where she was.

Though she refused to turn away from the woods, she could see him from the corner of her eye, walking around the bench and coming to take the empty seat beside her just like before. She was too scared to face him, but she could still see parts of his fiery mane of hair in her peripheral, gold and crimson, just like she held so dearly in her memories.

“Those emotions are a part of you,” He carried on. “You’re only hurting yourself by denying them. You’re denying a part of who you are, and in doing so, losing yourself in the process.”

“I don’t care if I’m losing myself…” She managed to murmur out to him, low and somber. “I don’t want to feel any of this anymore, Rengoku. I wish I couldn’t feel anything at all anymore…”

“You don’t really mean that.” He denied her claim, his tone tender yet strong. Supportive. “You know you don’t mean that. You and I both know you would never genuinely feel that way, deep down inside.”

“You’re wrong.”

She shook her head, watching as the cedars swayed and opened their arms towards her, calling for her to enter their embrace with whispered promises of better days.

“All I feel lately is this…intense, consuming, confusing mixture of pain, hurt, hate, anger, grief, shame, guilt, uselessness, helplessness and so many other things all jumbled up into one, and even then, I feel a drowning emptiness at the same time…I don’t want to feel any of it anymore, Kyo, I really don’t.” She referred to him by the nickname she used with him in the past, deciding that formalities between mentor and student didn’t matter anymore when he was, once again, minutes away from death. “I wish I couldn’t feel anything anymore, and I wish I felt indifferent towards life. I wish I didn’t care. I wish none of it mattered.”

“That’s not true, _______. You know it isn’t. You’re lost. That’s why you’re here again and still grasping to understand why. You’re lost and in a lot of pain, but I know you don’t mean that.” He continued to deny what she tried to say, never raising his voice nor becoming impatient with her.

“Please, face me. Don’t be afraid. I’m right here.”

Her eyes tightly closed, his request having vigorously thrummed at the strings which entangled her besieged heart. Her grimace deepened and a sharp, shaken breath left her as she forced herself to catch a pathetic sob in her throat.

She didn’t want to look at him. If she looked at him, the scene would progress forward, and she’d be forced to watch him leave again. She didn’t want to. She didn’t want to watch him board the Mugen Train and ride off to his death again. She knew that’s how this story would end, but she isn’t ready for it yet. So, she continued to reject his request, even blocking out the cedar woods now. Nevertheless, the mighty cedars never ceased their calls for her with their rustling in the wind, their leaves cooing out her name with promises of hiding her away from the painful reality she tried so hard to run from.

“Why don’t you want to look at me, _______?” Rengoku’s voice softly broke through the sound of the cedars. “Are you angry with me for leaving on the Mugen Train?”

“Of course not!”

Her eyes snapped open once more, desperately scanning over the miles of dark hidden beyond the cedars. Her denial of his question was automatic, refusing to give him any room at all to even consider the possibility he put on the table.

“How could I ever be mad at you for something like that? I know you were doing what you believed in, and I would never be angry with you for that. In fact, I’m proud of you for everything you’ve done and who you are.” Her eyes began to water, blurring her vision. Though trembles began to take her body once more, she was adamant on staying upright. She needed to keep her eyes on the comfortingly cooing forest to help her let the words out she had the chance to say.

“I’m so damn proud of you for who you are, Kyojuro. I’m proud of you for fighting as hard as you did, to the very bitter end, for the sake of protecting people weaker than you. I’m proud of you for watching over everyone you could and for being the person people needed even when you didn’t have anyone to be there for you in return. You became the person you always needed for those around you, for people like me. You lived and fought for what you believed in, and I couldn’t be prouder of you, and I’m just as proud to be able to call you my mentor and friend.”

“If that’s the case, then why won’t you look at me? What’s stopping you from facing me tonight?”

She remained silent for a moment, her gaze lifting to the sky and focusing on the full moon above. Her lower lip quivered again and it was starting to get harder to breathe normally through the tears which tried so hard to escape her.

She didn’t want to cry again.

She wanted to keep everything bottled up.

She wanted to bury it all and pretend everything is fine.

She wanted to pretend she was fine.

So, once again, she tried to take in a calming breath, but this one was so unstable, it forced her to fall against the backrest of the bench. This motion brought Rengoku’s view more into focus in the corner of her eye as she faced the forest again, trying with all her might to calm herself down.

“I-I’m scared, Kyo…” She finally whispered. “I’m scared of facing you just to watch you leave again…I know you have to do it; I know you have to go, b-but…I don’t want to. I don’t want to watch you go again…”

She knew none of what she did nor said mattered. She knew that, one way or another, all of this would end and he would board the Mugen Train once again. She knew nothing could change nor alter the course of history, but…she still wanted to stall him, still wanted to delay the arrival of the train. She knew, no matter how many times they sat on this bench, it would always arrive right on time. She knew, but still…

From the corner of her eye, she saw him begin to move. His hands came into view, obstructing her sights of the cedars as they came to rest upon her cheeks. The warmth his large palms enveloped her skin with caused her to let out a labored whimper, her eyes fluttering, fighting hard to keep her tears from falling as he guided her to look at him.

When her eyes met with his, all she saw was love and pride.

On his face, there was a soft and thoughtful smile, sincere in his emotions. Those fiery hues of his…they held that adamantly proud gaze she wondered if he still had for her. She could see the emotion clearly and vividly in his eyes, nothing masqueraded nor feigned. The waves and whitecaps within her nearly had her convinced that he would never look to her with pride ever again because of all the mistakes she’s made, because of how far she’s fallen, but as she gazed upon his expression, it was undeniable that all her thoughts on the matter had been false.

She supposed he…somehow really is still proud of her…

The realization caused her to sink into his open palms, one of her hands coming to rest on his as she pressed her cheeks against his hands. God, the feel of him, the warmth of him…Did he always feel this way? Was she really already forgetting the feel of his touch and the warmth of his palm…?

Despite her stubborn battle to keep her tears to herself, a couple of the solemn drops slipped down the curves of her cheeks and wet his skin, but he didn’t seem to mind. He simply rubbed her cheeks with his thumbs and softened his smile at her as he wiped her skin dry of those heartbroken drops of rain.

“It’s okay to feel afraid.” He assured with a gentle hush. “I know it’s scary and that’s okay, but I promise I’ll always be with you, _______, even if it isn’t in the way you’d like right now. One day, a very long time from now, we’ll be together again, but for now, I’ll accompany you wherever you go. I’ll always be there; I always have been. It’s okay to be afraid of the pain, but likewise, it’s okay to feel that pain as well. You deserve to work through it just as much as everyone else does, but you need to allow yourself to do so first.”

“I-I don’t want to, Kyo…”

She denied through her tears now, the droplets falling as they came. No matter how she tried, no matter what she did, they fell like rainwater upon her face, so she gave up on trying. Within Rengoku’s hold, wrapped up in his warmth, there was nothing on God’s green Earth that could hold her back.

“I h-hate feeling this way…It feels so loud and muffled in my head all at the same time, l-like I’m drowning underwater. It’s agonizing, how much everything hurts…I just want it all to stop, Kyo, I-I want it to stop…I never want to feel a damn thing again – even the crippling emptiness is better than feeling anything at all…”

“Oh, young _______...” Rengoku shook his head and softened his smile further, the look in his eyes heartbreakingly compassionate. “If you couldn’t feel anything at all, you wouldn’t get to know about what’s waiting on the other side of all those negative emotions. You wouldn’t know happiness, love, peace, care, joy, laughter and all the other wonderful emotions in between that come with the good in life and make it worth living through the bad.”

Tilting his head slightly to the side, he took a moment to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear before pulling his hands away from her cheeks. Despite how much it hurt to be in this moment, now that her eyes were on him, she couldn’t bear to look away. It hurt like hell to know how this story would end, but at least…at least one more time…she could watch him smile, could listen to him talk and could be with him, even if it certainly wasn’t in the way she wanted.

“The truth is, this painful grief that you’re going through right now only proves that you once knew happiness and love. You knew all of those wonderful emotions before – and you’ll know them again. I know it might feel as though the hurt hangs over you forever, but believe me when I tell you that one day soon, these feelings will come to pass. One day soon, you’re going to know peace again, and when that day comes, I look forward to seeing your genuine smile return to you.”

Something inside of her told her his words were true (after all, Rengoku would never lie to her), but it was so difficult to believe there would be a break in the storm within her mind. She knew he was right, that she used to be happy and she used to know these joyous emotions, but it felt so old now; did she really remember what those feelings were like to have? Can she properly remember what it felt like to genuinely, sincerely smile?

It hurt more than she thought it would to realize she couldn’t.

Suddenly, catching her completely off guard, a new pair of arms wrapped around her shoulders from behind, pulling her out of her own thoughts and into a strong embrace.

“Yeah, _______! Listen to what good ole Rengoku is telling you! If you couldn’t feel anything, you wouldn’t be able to remember our stories and how they made you feel back then! Wouldn’t that be a crying shame?”

_______ stiffened up something fierce in the arms of her new visitor. Her (eye color) eyes widened as far as they could go, staring into the joyously amused expression of her mentor as he watched the scene unfold before him.

Before she could react, a new hand found its place on her head, lovingly and teasingly ruffling up her hair until multiple strands were completely set astray. The gesture was playful with a hint of a tease, but it was undeniably filled with just as much love as the first visitor’s embrace was. They both radiated with a warmth she feared she would forget with the passage of time, and though she may still desperately cling to the memories of their touch, nothing compared to feeling the real thing.

“I couldn’t agree more. You can’t go forgetting us and the memories we share together so easily, _______. We’re a family, after all. We all carry these memories and feelings with us through thick and thin, and we’re going to hold you up to your end of it too.”

Her eyes met with Rengoku’s, the undeniable shock on her face asking without words if what was happening was what she thought it to be. When he gave her a single, thoughtful nod of the head, she sprung to her feet, pulling away from the arms and hands which held her to stare into the faces of the two men standing behind her.

“Keisuke…?! Botan…?!”

The two brothers chuckled and smiled in unison, Keisuke nodding in confirmation for her while Botan gave her a cheeky wink.

Keisuke – the oldest of the two – stood a couple inches over his younger brother. The smile he bore was warm and inviting, strong and reassuring – friendly, just as he had always been. His deep brown eyes never failed to bring the image of freshly brewed coffee accentuated by the delightful note of smooth chocolate to her mind, the warmth within those comforting hues almost identical to a morning brew. His lengthy tresses of deep black hair were gathered into the messy bun he always kept them in, a few strands blowing freely in the wind on either side of his face contrasting against his pale skin. His haori hugged his shoulders much the same way as Rengoku’s did, but his was as dark as night, a pattern of paper cranes flying upwards to the boundless sky adorning a majority of its fabric.

Botan, on the same branch as his brother, was as brilliantly bright as the sun was luminous. His grin stretched from ear-to-ear just as it always had, his pearly whites on full display as playful chuckles continued to escape his lips. His eyes, the same earthy coffee ground brown as Keisuke’s, were crescent-shaped from joy, the skin by them crinkling up exactly the same way she remembered they always did. In contrast to Keisuke, Botan’s hair was always cut short and messy. He always kept his wavy chestnut locks parted heavily to the right, and before her very eyes, she was witness to the way they almost cheekily cascaded down the right side of his face like waves of liquid mahogany. His haori he wore by the sleeves. It was deep cerulean in color, accented by various traditional images of golden clouds and dignified eastern dragons.

Around both of their necks, she noticed the necklaces bearing their family crest she remembered they always wore with great pride. The necklaces themselves were nearly identical down to the sturdy silver link chains and the matching kamon pendants displaying the intricate plum blossom of their lineage. The only difference between the two was the color of the gem linked above the kamon pendants themselves, Keisuke’s an ethereal jade and Botan’s a creamy pearl.

The two men looked…exactly as she remembered they did before their passings.

Bright.

Happy.

Loving.

Proud.

Beautiful.

_______ rushed towards her dear friends once she drank in the precious sight of the two, tossing herself at them with her arms wide open. When they were enveloped in her tight, desperate embrace at long last, she pulled them in as close to her as she was able and pressed her forehead against their shoulders once the trio was huddled together. When she felt their strong arms wrap around her just as tightly with the same amount of vigor as her, she began to sob openly into the wind while she took large handfuls of their haoris in her grasp to keep them from fading away.

“Keisuke, Botan, I-I’m so sorry…!”

Those were the first words she spoke.

“I-I am so, so s-sorry…! I tried to save both of you, I-I really did! I fought the demons off all night long t-to keep the two of you safe and to stop them from taking you away, but it wasn’t enough…! When everything was over, i-it was already too late a-and you just…! You were dead! I’m so, so very sorry…! I-I’m so sorry I let the two of you down the way I did!”

Keisuke brought his hand to rest on her head once more, stroking her hair to offer her comfort in the midst of her grief. Likewise, Botan brought his hands to rest on her back, running them up and down along her frame, warming her trembling figure with his comforting, protective presence.

“There’s nothing you need to be sorry about.” Keisuke assured, his lips pressing over the top of her head. “What happened wasn’t your fault. Botan and I know you did the best you could that night. You don’t need to apologize for something like that.”

“It was out of your control,” Botan murmured softly by her ear. “You didn’t know what was going to happen that night, and the decisions we made were our own. You have no blame in what happened. We chose, not you.”

She tugged desperately on their haoris, her mouth held agape as she cried aloud with no sense of control nor composure. Her tears, salty and unforgiving, were soaked by the fabric of their beautifully familiar coats. Each and every single drop of rain which fell from her eyes were elicited by the deep, loving sounds of their voices she had tried so hard no to forget; they were encouraged by the scent of them which always managed to take her to a different place and time in the universe. When she was in their arms, she felt as though they were seated by a peaceful waterfall, stories shared between them and laughter drifting in the breeze like the good old days.

With every ounce of her being and every bit of her will, she had desperately clung to the memory of them. She was so scared she would start forgetting. She was terrified to watch those memories slip from her fingertips, forced to watch them drift into the furthest depths of space where she’d never know nor hear of them again.

Despite her fears, they’re right here, proving her painful thoughts wrong.

Their voices, their scents, their embraces, their touch, their warmth; it was all right here.

She was cause for their death. It was her fault they were dead and gone, and she knew she didn’t deserve to fall apart in her mournful tears within their arms, but there wasn’t a force in the universe that could pull her away from them in that moment.

She was guilty.

She was a hypocrite.

She was nothing.

Still, it didn’t matter.

All that mattered was the feel of them in her arms and she in theirs, as if she had never lost them to begin with. She would give a million tomorrows and a million more to be able to stay in this space, to never have to watch it fade away again. Even though she knew it was impossible, her broken heart thrumming at the rusted strings of her very soul wished for it so deeply that she almost convinced herself it was possible.

As long as she clung to them with all her might, could she stop the wind from taking them away?

If she never let go, would they stay?

Would they share a million tomorrows and a million more?

“B-but…it absolutely was my fault…” She choked out in broken bits, her nails digging into the intricate cloths of their haoris. “I-if I had just…j-just paid more attention to what I was doing…If I hadn’t been so o-overly confident in myself and my abilities…neither of you would’ve had to rescue me…Y-you’d both be with me still, breathing and living your lives…” Deeper, she sunk into the brothers, and in perfect time, she felt them squeeze her closer as well.

“You’ve both placed such a h-heavy price on my worthless life that I have no idea how to repay…I don’t deserve the breath y-you both saved for me, I-I really don’t, and losing you has left me feeling so…l-lost…What am I supposed to do, Keisuke? W-what am I supposed to do, Botan? I-I didn’t deserve the price you both paid a-and I never will…You should’ve…Y-you should’ve just let the demon kill me that night…”

“Never.”

Both of the brothers retorted in unison, their tones firm and sure.

“You are everything but worthless, _______. You are as much a part of us as we are of you.” Keisuke remarked, his hand guiding her head to comfortingly nuzzle into the crook of his neck.

“You’re our family, _______. You’re priceless to us. We made the choice to save you because of that – because you are worth more than you’ve ever allowed yourself to believe.” Botan added, pressing a loving kiss to the side of her head.

“We would choose to save you time and time again, _______. If dying means you can live on, we’ll choose it every single time.”

As the brothers’ voices turned to one, she felt her knees buckle beneath her. She collapsed in their arms upon the station platform, and she could swear her cries grew as loud as they could become within her tattered soul, but they sounded muted and muffled to her. She was being dragged beneath the waves, the whitecaps forcing saltwater into her lungs to weigh her down. The glass pane above the surf was too thick for her to break through no matter how hard she kicked and pounded against it.

“It’s not your fault. You have no blame. We chose our fates to end the way they did because we love you. We have no regrets. To know you survived is our greatest victory. Not the many demons we fought and won against, not the many missions we finished, not how far we got as Demon Slayers – you. You are our greatest victory. We want you to live on and tell our stories to new people. We want you to feel happiness again. You deserve to be happy. You deserve to feel. We believe in you. We know, very soon, you’re going to understand why you keep coming back here. Don’t give up on yourself, ________– we never did.”

The waves were grabbing her, drowning her in their murky depths. Through her tears and the surf, she saw the blurred image of them, but they were too far away. She reached through the violent waters, hands outstretched and fingers desperately grasping, but the rapids dragged her out further and further, twisting her within its ferocity. She swore she would die beneath the waves, locked out of breath by the glass pane.

Through the violent sea’s storms and tumults, however, they were there.

Their warmth surrounded her regardless of the glass pane dividing them.

Their arms kept her taut to their forms, unshaken by the aggressive quakes which raked her very bones. Her cries and whimpers which bubbled beneath the waves didn’t scare them away. It didn’t matter that her words were formless, voiceless and silent – they would be there through it all.

Within the midst of this catharsis, the warmth of Rengoku’s presence washed over her as well. It blanketed atop the three within the group’s embrace on the station platform’s floor, forming a protective cover for them. Upon her person, she could feel his arms hug around her and her boys, his haori shielding them from the world around them.

In the distance, she could hear the ominous, foreboding sound of the Mugen Train’s whistle blowing into the cool evening air once again, but still they stayed. She knew it wouldn’t last, she knew she’d be forced to watch them go, and she was terrified to be away from this warmth again.

Living felt so cold without them.

“You are worthy. You deserve to live on. You deserve every breath that leaves your lungs. You. Are. Enough.”

The violent storm was ceaseless and she wasn’t strong enough to break out of the crashing waves and drowning whitecaps, but through the glass pane, she still saw them.

Blurred as they were, she saw them.

Though the thick glass separated them, she felt them.

Through the crashing, muffling waves, she heard them.

“You. Are. ENOUGH.”

~¤ ¤ ¤~

Her pillow was wet again.

Its damp, flimsy fabric somewhat clung to the side of her cheek as her senses returned to her, but she didn’t care. Slowly, her eyes opened just a crack, and through her fluttering lashes, she caught sight of the gentle rays of sunlight greeting her through the open window.

People were walking down the streets of Tatsukawa Village again, their chatter muffling into the background ambiance of nature. The birds chirped alongside the people, conversing in a language of their own, but she felt she might understand them better than the people surrounding her as the days continued to pass her by if she only tried to listen a little harder. The skies above were bright blue once more, she noted, the fluffy white clouds lazily drifting by paying an homage to the life down on the ground for the day they had in store.

There was beauty to be had and appreciated in this shattered world, but from behind her endless pane of glass, everything looked blurry. All the beautiful sights and sounds all mixed into one until nothing was distinguishable. From behind the glass, she could only make out odd shapes and blurry faces tied to distant sounds she couldn’t differentiate between the songs of life and simple white noise.   

Distantly, her tired eyes stared into the infinite sky, her mind filled with empty static. Images of the dream she had awoken from continuously played in her head. They were the cause for the wetness upon her pillow, for the tears which dampened her skin. She could remember the absolutely devastating pain she felt on that train station platform so vividly that, if she didn’t know any better, she would’ve believed it all actually happened. Her dreams as of late have been a theatrical display of difficult, complex emotions she didn’t know how to cope with, but right now, she felt nothing.

She felt numb inside.

Seeing Keisuke and Botan in her dreams with Rengoku was something she wished she could experience in real life just one more time, but she knew better than to cling to a wish so fictitious.   

After feeling everything at once which she tried so hard to keep buried beneath the surface, there was little room for her to feel much of anything else in the aftermath.

The waters calmed, though they kept her beneath the surface. Swallowed within the overwhelming blue, she could feel the waves settle for a moment’s breath only to gain momentum for the next time her strings were thrummed.

For now, the saltwater simply aided in building the rust around her cords once more.

With an immense push of effort, she rolled herself over in bed, turning away from the window to stare at the wooden ceiling above her. There, she inspected the individual grains she could make out in the boards, wasting the ticking minutes which passed her by. The only movement she allowed herself to make for a very long time was to wipe her face dry of the tears she wept in her dreams, numb to the ache that came with those olden droplets.

She had to think about it for a while, trying to find a pocket of strength within her to push herself away from the heavy bedsheets hugging her down to the mattress she laid upon. They felt weighted to her, as if they were monstrously hefty, filled with nothing but rocks and stones to keep her nailed down where she was. They offered her warmth, and though it felt nothing like the warmth she craved, it still did a very good job at faking it. The heavy, weighted warmth made it hard to want to try to leave their smothering embrace.

Everything in her told her to stay where she was so she could rot with the passage of time beneath those suffocative bedsheets, but the voices of Keisuke, Botan and Rengoku whispered in the back of her mind to fight against the poisonous thoughts of hopeless compliance.

She didn’t want to.

Every muscle, bone and nerve within her begged for her to stay suffocatingly cocooned within the covers. They cried for her to give them a break from the shattered world outside her open window, but she knew she didn’t have that luxury to spend. Thus, with the ghost of the hands of those she loved most supportively pressing against her back and shoulders, she pushed herself up to sit within her sea of blankets and face another day.

She felt disoriented at first, like someone forcefully pulled her out of a fever dream. Groggily, she looked around herself, gathering a sense of her surroundings again, until her eyes took notice of something she had completely overlooked the night before.

Resting against the far corner of her room was her Nichirin sword, sheathed and just as she had left it last. She hadn’t noticed in the disarray, but it seemed Momoko or one of the other healers must’ve left it in the room for her while she was unconscious or asleep. Its presence here with her, completely the same as she last remembered it to be, left her thinking about the perplexity of it.

After all, she didn’t come back to the village last night.

She was brought back.

That meant Akaza brought her sword with her when he left her here.

Why wouldn’t he destroy it? Or at least toss it somewhere far away within the vast cedar woods? As a Demon Slayer, a new one would’ve promptly been forged for her by the Corps’ special swordsmiths as they did for all Slayer’s whose swords were damaged or lost in combat, but at least it would’ve definitely left her fully defenseless while she was in the village. Ultimately, it would’ve left her and every single one of the villagers in Tatsukawa vulnerable to any and all demon attacks from the neighboring woods, and to her, that felt like an obvious blow and win for a demon to make on a bunch of humans.

Yet…for whatever reason…Akaza hadn’t done that.

He left her with her only form of defense despite the fact that their realities kept them fighting on opposing sides.

She couldn’t wrap her head around it nor could she find a way to understand the peculiar Upper Moon’s motives, but she supposed it wasn’t important anymore. She didn’t think she’d ever see Akaza again, so it just…is what it is.

Whether that was a good thing or not, she wasn’t so sure.

She turned her gaze away from her sword at the thought, not wanting to dwell upon the what ifs right now. Rather, she needed to get herself up and moving again. She didn’t know where her life was headed now nor did she know how long it would last after last night and the dreams she had, but she did know one thing: continuing to live on her borrowed time meant she still had a chance to secure Tatsukawa’s safety.

Though she had sent her Kasugai Crow for backup, there was still no word as to what or who would come. She owed it to the villagers to stay until reinforcements arrived, to protect a people who saw so much good in her she could never find on her own. What would happen to her after Tatsukawa Village, she didn’t know, but she tried not to think about it too hard. She would follow the currents of the crashing waves and abyssal waters wherever they lead her, but right now, she felt the need to fight against the current just a little bit longer for the people of Tatsukawa.

For the memories of Keisuke and Botan.

With them as her driving force, regardless of how persistently the bedsheets attempted to keep her woven within the confines of their cocoons, she pushed herself to the edge of her bed and pressed her bare feet to the floorboards beneath her. The wooden boards squeaked and creaked welcomingly, encouraging her in her fight to keep going – and she listened this time.

She stood to her feet, pushing passed the overwhelming effort she needed to find within herself to do so. Though her body continued to ache from the long weeks of battles for Tatsukawa’s sake, she would be lying if she said she didn’t feel better than the night before. The pain had faded away a good deal over the course of the evening, and the protest within her bones grew quieter and quieter with each step she took towards the chair where her uniform was folded upon.

Was it Momoko’s medicine that helped or was it Akaza’s gross medicinal tea? I wonder…

She laughed a bit to herself humorlessly at the thought. She would never know which of the two did it, but she figured she didn’t need to know. In their own regards, it felt like they both did something to help. What a weird thought that was. A demon trying to heal a human – who would’ve thought?

Shaking off the oddly somber memory of him, she began to dress herself in her uniform. It was cleaned and pressed, any holes it had last night now sewn shut with hand-sewn needle and thread. One of the healers must’ve taken care of it the night they found her at the entrance of the village after they changed her into a dry, clean set of loose night clothes.

She would have to thank all of them when she had the chance. They worked so hard to keep her well…She didn’t deserve it, but they still did so much for her sake.

She frowned, staring at her patched-up right sleeve once she was clothed again.

Her mind was in a distant place in that moment, her thumb tracing over the individual stitches in the fabric of her sleeve, offset by the white thread used on the black background. Only when she heard the creaking of the bedroom door did she turn away from the stitches.

Turning around, she faced Momoko as she walked inside.

Momoko seemed to be in a brighter mood today than she was the day before. She was anxious yesterday, _______ had noticed, but she couldn’t blame her for it. After so long of living in fear of the moon rising to the sky, it was natural she would feel on edge as the days continued to move forward without a whisper from the forest. This morning, however, she seemed to be at ease. There was a pleasant smile on her face, her eyes, blue as the midday sky, were bright and friendly. Her short, straight, black hair was neatly tied into a ponytail, her fringe bangs perfectly lined above her eyebrows. The hairstyle accented her and her face well, aiding in drawing attention to her eyes of blue skies as well as her pale pink lips angled to her crescent-shaped smile. All-in-all, she came off completely different today than she has the entire time _______ has been stationed in Tatsukawa.

“Good morning, _______. It’s good to see you up again. How are you feeling today? Any better?”

_______ nodded, forcing a small, polite smile to her lips.

She had forgotten what it felt like to genuinely smile. It took her a while, but she eventually mastered the art of faking it for appearances. She didn’t want people asking her if she was alright or if there was anything wrong when faced with the vacant look in her eyes and the unreadable expressions she often made, so she learned and she learned quick.

She didn’t want to be impolite to the people of Tatsukawa Village in any form of the word, so she made good use of her counterfeit talents around them just as she did with everyone else. Nevertheless, her smiles may not be real, but the great fight she put up in secret every day to give the people around her the emotions they deserved were always genuine.

“Good morning, Momoko. I’d like to say I’m feeling better today, better than I felt before anyway. Thanks for asking.”

“Well, that’s great to hear!” Momoko chirped, though a sheepish look soon took her expression as she continued to linger by the open door. “I hope I’m not disturbing you? I see you have your uniform on again.”

_______ shook her head.

“No, not at all. Actually, I woke up not so long ago and only just got dressed.”

“Ah, well that’s a relief then.” Momoko’s friendly smile returned to her. “I just stopped by for two things, so I won’t take up too much of your time. First, Namba-san asked us to let you know he’d like to speak with you about something. He didn’t tell me what it deals with, but he did say it was important, so whenever you feel ready, you should consider paying him a visit. Second, would you like your breakfast here or would you like to join the others and I around the table this morning?”

At the mention of the village head’s name, _______’s brow furrowed. She supposed it wasn’t strange that he wanted to have a one-on-one meeting with her after everything that’s recently transpired. With the last two days of peace Tatsukawa has known and the fact that they all found her unconscious by the village after having disappeared within the cedar woods, she could only imagine there were a couple of things he’d like to exchange words about. For now, she could only assume the importance of the matter must deal with the safety of the village and a conversation on their newfound, questionable peace.

“Alright, thank you for letting me know. I’ll make sure to head over right away. As for breakfast, don’t worry about me and just go get yourself something to eat instead. I’ll sit down for a bite once I’m back, but thank you for offering.”

Truth be told, she didn’t want to be around other people for too long right now. No offense whatsoever towards Momoko and the other healers; they were all a lovely bunch and she appreciated having them around.

The problem wasn’t them – it was her.  

Solitude felt like her dearest companion as of late, and no matter how much time she got with him, she feels she needs more and more of his time as the days pass her by to really feel like herself.

Today was especially true to that fact.

Thankfully, Momoko didn’t press. She simply nodded her head in understanding and gave her a knowing look.

“No problem. You know where to find us if you need us. Be safe out there, _______.”

With that, Momoko left, closing the door behind her to give _______ the privacy she needed to get ready for the day ahead.

She let out a long, steady sigh when she was on her own again, her expression falling to the somber look she only ever allowed herself to have when she was alone.

Turning to look back towards her open window, she watched for a second or two as the gentle breeze of the day ruffled the bundled curtains. She considered going over to close it, but eventually decided to leave it open.

Maybe doing so would allow the sun’s warmth to enter the room while she was gone.

With that decided, she glanced back at the night clothes she strewn onto the chair where her uniform was. She took a moment or two to fold them up neatly, knowing the healers would check her room later to make sure things were tidy for her. She never wanted to be a burden to them in any way, so she did whatever she could to ease their work in that regard. So, after folding her night clothes, she made her bed as well, and only then did she finally find herself standing in front of her Nichirin sword again.

She stood there for a while, staring at her sheathed blade, wondering if it truly still held a use in her hands or not. That night, it might as well have been a toy blade made from plastic for children to play with. Never once did she lift it to fight the demons she was here to ward off, and she felt shame for that, as though she had dishonored the blade painstakingly crafted for her hands.  

Regardless of what she felt, it’s here.

It’s here thanks to the demon of the Upper Moons.

Her frown deepened at the thought.

She knew not what the day had in store for her today, though she supposed anything was possible now after what she experienced.

Keeping that in mind, she took her Nichirin blade in cautious, guilt-ridden hands and sheathed it by her waist before stepping out the door to face the day ahead of her.  

Maybe she didn’t care about what happened to her anymore, but she did care about Tatsukawa and its people. Until the reinforcement squad arrived, she was their sole defender. When she wandered into the woods, she thought she donned the title in the form of a distracting sacrifice given on a silver platter to the demons within, but her sacrificial plan didn’t turn out how she expected. As a result, she was inadvertently given another chance at life. Where the breath in her lungs would lead her now, she didn’t know, but now that she’s lived to see another day, she would gift her remaining tomorrows to the villagers. If the need came to be, she would draw her dishonored blade once more in the people’s defense regardless of her inadequacies.

For Tatsukawa Village, she was ready to give her very last breath.

~¤ ¤ ¤~

The scent of tea was strong in the village head’s home.

Seated upon one of the gray zabutons in his living room, _______ awaited Namba’s audience. As soon as she arrived, he had offered to make her a pot of tea to welcome her with. She tried to politely decline as she hadn’t woken up in the best of moods nor the healthiest of appetites, but he insisted nonetheless. By the time she was seated, he was already walking down the halls of his home to brew the drink for the two of them, and by then, she couldn’t reject his hospitable offer.

It smelled like it was almost done. Its sweet aroma wove itself throughout Namba’s home soothingly, bringing images of sunny yet rainy days to mind. If things had been different, she would’ve liked the idea of enjoying a hot cup of matcha green tea seated on the porch of one of Tatsukawa’s charming homes while watching the rain drizzle and the sun break through the clouds. It sounded and felt so peaceful, when she thought about it, but days like that felt out of reach to her now.

The last time she spent a day like that was when Keisuke and Botan were still alive, watching over Tastukawa Village with her.

She remembered, after successful nights of them defending the village from the attackers in the woods, some of the villagers would show their gratitude to them in the form of humble gifts primarily consisting of food. One afternoon, the three of them were invited for a cup of tea by Namba and his wife, Junko. She glanced towards the back of the room at the large double doors she knew led to the resident’s backyard porch, and in that moment, she almost felt as if she had been transported back in time.

The scent of matcha was strong back then too. The three of them were seated next to each other on the porch with their legs dangling off its elevated edge; she sat in the middle, Keisuke to her right and Botan to her left. After they spent a while with the couple talking about the events of recent days over a couple sips of their tea, they encouraged them to sit on the porch of their home so they could feel the sunshine on their skin again. There, they drank their matcha and shared peaceful smiles. Many words weren’t exchanged, but they didn’t need to be. The light of day breaking through the trees the Namba family had planted in their quaint yard mixed with the breeze spoke enough for itself. After a while, she recalled it began to lightly drizzle back then as well. It was a picturesque scene; the perfect way to enjoy a cup of tea, surrounded by people you love and care for.

Now, however, the sliding doors were closed to the world outside and there would only be tea served for one visitor.

Her stare was vacant as her eyes lingered on the sliding doors. Within her, she felt her heart constrict, aching to squeeze, but she refused to allow those cords within her to strum again.

Not here.

Not right now.

Only when she was under the cover of night alone in her room did she ever want to let those shameful cords to strum again.

“The tea is ready, _______-san.”

Namba’s voice called her attention, bringing her gaze to rest upon the towering man which came to join her by his rectangular chabudai table.

Namba was a large, middle-aged samurai who has seen his fair share of battles alongside a blade. His physique was imposing and muscular, notable even through the simple, loose, mute orange yukata he wore today; the result of the training he dedicated much of his life to, no doubt. His skin was tanned to a deep caramel color, whether it was natural or caused by extensive work beneath the sun, she didn’t know. Various scars alluding to stories he had to tell were brandished proudly upon his ruggedly masculine complexion, and he did nothing to hide nor withhold them from public view. His salt-and-pepper hair hung loosely by his shoulders in messy straight strands, and beyond them, he donned an impressive beard he noticeably kept well-maintained. His eyes called for the attention of anyone he met; one was a glistening, warm amber color, edged with honey and gold, while the other, in contrast, was completely hazed over in ghostly white with its lids tattered by merciless scaring.

He was a man whose mere appearance demanded the respect of others, but as a person, he was kind and humble. He treated those around him with just as much respect and consideration as they treated him. After all this time she’s spent with him and his village, it was obvious to her that he, as an honorable samurai, gave his life for Tatsukawa, always at the ready to defend it and its people whenever the need came to be. It was no wonder someone as loyal and strong as him became the village head.

She couldn’t imagine what he must’ve felt when a threat he could do nothing against fell upon his beloved village.

Relying on others was always so…scary.

Scary and hard.

“Thank you so much, Namba-san. You really didn’t have to trouble yourself like this, but I appreciate it. Your tea always tastes lovely.” _______ politely thanked the samurai as he settled the ceramic teapot and accompanying cups down on the chabudai.

“Nonsense. You are not only an honored guest in my home, but to all of Tatsukawa. The work you and your friends put into protecting all of us here is a debt we can never repay. Brewing a decent pot of tea for you is the least I could do in return.” He waved her formalities off in his friendly ways, already beginning to pour the tea in the cups.

“Please forgive Junko, she couldn’t be here to greet you today. She’s out with her mother and father helping them stock up on groceries before nightfall, but she sends her regards.” Namba apologized on behalf of his wife’s absence, receiving a wave of the hand from _______ as she accepted her cup of tea from him.

“That’s alright, no need to apologize. Spending time with family is important…” She paused a moment, glancing into her warm cup of tea before offering Namba a tight smile. “I’m sure I’ll be able to catch up with her next time.”

“Absolutely. Next time, you must join us for a meal. It’s been so long since you last sat down with us for dinner in our home.” He returned a smile to her, but his was genuine and grand, somehow made friendlier from the fuzziness of his beard surrounding his lips.

“Yes, it really has been a long while since we all ate here together…”

She trailed off and took a sip of her tea, hoping the heat of the drink would help keep her in the present rather than drifting into memories again. The tea was still hot and it burned on her tongue, but it wasn’t so much that she couldn’t bear through it. It hurt a little, but it helped in keeping her focused, which is really all she wanted right now.

“Well, that’s something that can be properly planned out very soon, I’m sure.” He remarked, following her lead and taking a steady swig of his tea. “Tatsukawa Village has known peace during these past two nights after what felt like a lifetime of fear. I don’t know what you did when you left to the cedar woods in the middle of the night, but whatever it was, it seemed it bought us some time.”

“Bought some time?” She echoed.

“Yes. Bought some time.” He repeated, carefully swirling his tea in his cup before bringing it to his lips once more. “I don’t believe this lifelong struggle would’ve just ended overnight the way it seems. Of course, I mean no insult to your great work, and offer nothing but my deepest respects to your friends who arrived here with you.”

_______ noticeably grimaced at his words and turned her gaze away from the village head, focusing on her cup of green tea instead.

“What are you trying to say, Namba-san? Please be blatant.”

“What I’m trying to say is, you and I know demons are craftier and more intelligent than people might give them credit for. They were once human, just like you and I, and with their change, they gain abilities far exceeding anything we can ever aspire to have. For a long time, the cedar woods have been plagued by them, more and more having made their refuge there as the years pass. The forest is vast and practically endless, giving them ample places to hide away in for a night or two.” His expression fell to a more serious look, his eyes sharp and keen. “What I’m saying is, I don’t believe they’re all gone. Perhaps some of them are, I know you’ve slain more than we can count and others have run off, but I know for a fact that there are more of them hiding away within the woods waiting for the moment to strike when Tatsukawa is at its most vulnerable – and I have reason to believe these things as well.”

_______ narrowed her eyes and took in a long, quiet breath as she watched herself squeeze the teacup within her hands, her fingers pressing into the ridges of its ceramic.

Once again, guilt was eating away at her insides.

Everywhere she turned, everyone she talked to, everything she tried to do or avoid, it all resulted in the same feelings to flood her over and over again.

She didn’t do a damn thing to help stop the attacks on Tatsukawa the night she wandered into the cedar woods, but she couldn’t bring herself to confess her sins of it to Namba.

If anything, she felt like a traitor to the people of Tatsukawa, considering she had spent the entirety of that night in the arms of a demon of the Upper Moons.

She shook her head at the memory of him, refusing the images of his person to resurface in her mind during a time like this.

He was a sin she knew she could never atone for.

“Regrettably,” She muttered, lifting her gaze from her cup to look at Namba again, her expression unreadable as she set her teacup aside. “I have to agree with you, Namba-san. My experience as a Demon Slayer up to this point has taught me never to let my guard down after a quick and easy victory…” She leaned forward against the chabudai table, her elbows resting on its edge as she keenly met the man’s gaze.

“I don’t believe the battle for Tatsukawa is over quite yet either, but I do have to ask: what reasons do you have to draw to these conclusions as well? You sound like you’re trying to tell me something, and I know you didn’t ask Momoko to call me over just for us to have a simple chat over a few cups of tea.”  

Namba huffed through his nose, a deep rumble resounding from his chest, and he gave a firm nod of his head as he, too, set his cup of tea to the side.

“I won’t beat around the bush.” He began. “The morning you were found by the side of the village, I lead another search party of my own into the cedar woods while you were being cared for by Momoko and the other healers. I’m not sure if you recall, but I escort these parties up to a certain point in the forest during the day when it’s safe to search for any possessions or articles of clothing belonging to the villagers who have fallen prey to the demons. Anything we can find and identify we return to the families of those lost.”

She nodded her head, her brows furrowing.

“Yes, I remember you telling me about that when I first got here. Was your group attacked? Did something happen to one of the people in your search party I’m not aware of?”

Namba shook his head.

“No, that isn’t it.” His tone dropped, serious and low.

“Thank God, we’ve never had any kind of attacks during the day. No, what happened was that we came upon a pile of possessions in the woods that morning. It was just a few yards passed the edges of the forest. We have no doubt that whatever put that pile together where it did, it was a deliberate act, because we’ve never found as many possessions of those departed together like that before. Whenever we did recover possessions, they were always scattered and randomly strewn about the forest floor, found by dedicated searches and immense luck, but these were purposefully piled high on top of each other, as if whatever did it had been collecting them for months. It was set in a way to make it unavoidable and hard to miss. From everything we found, we’ve been able to identify the belongings of over fifty missing villagers. Shuji and a few of the other village guards are returning the items to their rightful homes as we speak.”  

Taken aback by this new discovery, _______ blinked her eyes at the village head as her expression fell more and more into horror.

It didn’t take a Demon Slayer to realize that leaving a pile of belongings of the missing villagers somewhere that could easily be found in the demon-infested forest was nothing short of an act of mockery. It gave off a boastful, pompous air, as if whoever had done it burst out in guffawed laughter at them all through the vindictive, personal attack.

“I see...” She muttered, a deep frown angling her lips.

One look at each other’s eyes and they both knew they drew the same conclusion: one of the demons in the woods was not only getting bolder, but cockier as well.

“I’m afraid that isn’t the end of what I called you here for today.” Namba remarked softly, bringing his hands off of the chabudai. “While we were able to identify most of the belongings we found in the pile as items from Tatsukawa villagers, there were two things that we weren’t able to identify for any of our missing people. The craftmanship doesn’t match the work of any craftsperson in our village either, so I thought I would ask you if you perhaps recognized them.”

Upon explaining himself, _______ watched Namba reach into the right pocket of his yukata to fetch what he spoke of. When his hand came out, fisted around the items, she noticed a pair of oxidized silver chains dangling between his fingers.

Her heart dropped to her stomach as soon as the chains caught her eye, the beat of it becoming overwhelmingly loud with sudden anxiety as she extended her hands out to the village head. Gingerly, he allowed the necklaces to drop within her grasp, their chains gently weaving around her fingers as a pair of cold pendants came to rest upon her palms.

Nervously, she remained in place for a few seconds even as Namba sat himself back upon his zabuton, her hands trembling the slightest bit. He didn’t question her stalled, shaken reaction as he watched her.

No, rather, there was a look of empathy in his eyes as he watched the woman tremble with the honorable jewelry in her open hands.

Slowly, her movements fueled with apprehensive nerves, she brought her trembling hands closer to herself until she allowed them to rest on the very edge of the chabudai. There, she finally willed herself to peer into what was given to her.

Laying upon the loosely tangled silver chains were the plum blossom kamon pendants belonging to the Watanabe family, one adorned by cracked jade and the other by sullied pearl.

Laying coldly and lifelessly within her hands were the kamon pendants of Keisuke and Botan.

As soon as she recognized what they were, her hands balled up into tight fists around the pendants and she abruptly turned her face towards the ceiling away from Namba. Tightly, she closed her eyes and roughly bit the inside of her cheeks. She tried with all her might to keep every single one of the horrid emotions she constantly felt swirling within her where they lay buried beneath the waves, but no matter how hard she tried, heartbroken whimpers tore through her throat viciously. Her eyes watered and tears began to form, but she quickly gritted her teeth and began to aggressively wipe at her eyes with her fists, refusing to allow herself the space to let those stinging drops flow again now that she wasn’t alone.

Her heart felt like it would stop any day now from all the pain it’s been forced to withstand. Every day, it felt like she was issued another blow that painfully tore at her arteries and muscles, gradually slicing her heart into haphazard threads within the confines of her chest. How she was still alive from the constant emotional beatings alone, she had no clue.

At the thought, she pressed Keisuke and Botan’s pendants firmly against her chest right over where her tattered heart continued to laboriously beat, hoping upon hope that the ghost of them would help ease the scarily rapid, anxious thumps it struggled to maintain.

“I truly am sorry, _______-san…Their kamon pendants were the first things we saw, placed on the very top of the pile. I wasn’t quite sure at the time, but I had an inkling they belonged to young Keisuke and Botan; I had to ask you to be certain. I know this is bittersweet, but they’ve found their way to you again. I hope you may find some comfort in that knowledge.”

Her misty eyes snapped open at Namba’s words, sharply scanning all over the ceiling again. Something he said stood out to her, burning her deep with a wretched insult she never once expected to receive towards the deaths of her closest friends.

They were right at the top. They were the very first things Namba and the others saw when they found the pile. There is no doubt whatsoever that the pile itself was made as a mockery to the people of the village, so that means…Keisuke and Botan’s pendants placed on the very top mustn’t have been a coincidence. Does that mean it was…?

She bit so hard into her cheeks as the thought dawned on her that she began to taste blood. Grimacing at the repugnant taste, she reached for her cup of green tea and took a clumsy gulp. It was lukewarm now, but it did well to replace the taste of metal from her tongue. When she placed her cup firmly back down onto the chabudai, it was empty.

“Thank you, Namba-san…” She quietly murmured, her now vacant gaze locking with his once more. “It means a lot to me to have their necklaces with me now…Keisuke and Botan will accompany me in getting to the bottom of this thanks to you, even if they’re not with me physically anymore.” Abruptly, she stood to her feet, her hand falling from her chest to her side but still maintaining an iron grip on the pendants. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to be alone for a while…”

She began to walk away from Namba and the chabudai, knowing her way out of his home, but before she could get far, she felt the man’s large hand take a gently firm hold of her wrist, stopping her in place. Glancing back at the older man, she caught his eyes staring up at her with deep empathy again, the softness in his gaze making her crack the slightest bit.

“Please, sit down, young one. I know you must have a lot to think about right now, but before you go, allow me to tell you a story.”

She sucked in a sharp, painful breath, the memory of Rengoku now hitting her like a flood as well thanks to the way Namba spoke to her, to the way he looked at her.

Though she lingered on her feet for a moment, she conceded to the man’s request and silently walked back to her spot to sit on her zabuton. His hand slipped from her wrist when she moved to join him, a somber smile angling his lips as their eyes met yet again.

“When I was a young man learning the ways of the samurai, I had a friend. His name was Akihiro. Akihiro and I trained beneath the same master, and thanks to that and all the years we spent training under his tutelage, we grew up together. With time, we became not only the best of friends, but the closest of brothers also. When we grew into young adults and our master passed away, we decided to move on from our home village and travel the lands together. It had been a dream of ours from our youth, and by then, it felt like the right choice to make. Akihiro and I…” He chuckled to himself – a warm and heartfelt, grumbly sound. “We built and made many good, fond memories and stories together drifting from town to town and by the flames of the campfires we kindled in between. For many years, it felt as though he and I would see this lifetime through to the end together as brothers in time. However, fate didn’t destine it to be so.”

He took a pause, drinking down the last of the tea in his cup as well before placing it beside the half-empty ceramic teapot. _______ could feel the grief from his person, could hear it interlaced in each and every single one of his words, but not once did his smile fall.

Despite how saddened his smile was, she felt it to be genuine. There was nothing forced nor fake about it. The way his eyes glistened and gleamed gave away to her that, in his mind, he must be replaying his beautiful memories like a performance on stage for the very first time all over again.

“One day, we came upon Tatsukawa. We only planned to pass by; our intention was to spend a week resting and enjoying the quaint life of a small village like this one. Yet, something about its charm drew us in. We didn’t want to leave, and as luck would have it, it also didn’t take long for us to know that Tatsukawa had been in dire need of a couple of guardians of sorts for its people. You see, back then, demons weren’t the ones tormenting the people of Tatsukawa. Rather, they struggled against their own humankind. The village was constantly targeted by wandering bandit rōnin who would cause damage to people’s property and steal whatever they could get their hands on, because there was nobody around strong enough to put a stop to them at the time.

Naturally, a pair of skilled swordsmen like the two of us fit their needs quite well and held up a difficult challenge to the bandit rōnin, so we chose to remain in the village for a while longer as new samurai of Tatsukawa. What began as a week of relaxation turned into many years of life spent in joy within this village’s borders. We grew older with the passing of seasons, I met Junko and got married, and while Akihiro never wed himself, he loved all of the villagers and the villagers all loved him. We were happy, and our brotherhood only continued to grow as the years leisurely carried on.

Several years went by after we settled down here, and one evening, the village was attacked by a notorious group of rōnin Akihiro and I had crossed blades with in the past in Tatsukawa’s defense. They bore a grudge against us from the very first day we defeated them in battle and dishonored them and their blades, and so, they plotted against us to avenge themselves. Akihiro and I fought the men until dawn, and by the time it was all over, I was the last man standing in that battlefield.”

He took a short pause, breathing in and out steadily through his nostrils, though his somber smile remained upon his lips.

His story began to sound eerily similar to her own, and as the words matched with hers more and more, she began to shake her head with trembling lips. She could feel her rapid, anxious heartbeat kickstart once again with vengeance, her breathing picking up, and all she could do to try to control herself was squeeze Keisuke and Botan’s kamon pendants within her fist on the table for comfort, but their cold surfaces only proved to remind her just how similar their story was to Akihiro’s.

“Akihiro gave his all that night to defend what he loved most,” Namba continued despite the evident emotional discomfort on _______’s expression. “And he died protecting what he loved most as well. It was a truly honorable death for a man like him, and I understand that very well now with age, but back then, understanding any of it was impossible for me. That night, I lost my brother for what felt like no particular reason. I became both inconsolable and unapproachable. Within me, bitterness and hatred began to grow and fester both towards myself and the long-dead rōnin we’d slain that day. A part of who I was got torn away from me, and it felt as if an emptiness of the likes I had never known before began to consume me.”

“P-please, stop…” She painstakingly stuttered, a tear or two slipping passed her defenses and down along the sides of her cheeks. Stubbornly still, she wiped them away with her trembling free hand, never once removing her gaze from Namba’s.

“Why are you telling me all of this, Namba-san…? W-what’s the point of making me listen to this story?”

Namba’s gaze softened with care and sympathy, his somber smile growing the smallest bit, tugging at the edges of his bushy beard. Delicately, he reached across the chabudai and placed one of his large hands upon her fist which gripped onto Keisuke and Botan’s pendants.

She shuddered out a breath as the warmth of his hand enveloped her own, the way he comfortingly stroked the top of her palm with such care reminding her evermore of Rengoku. The stubborn, fearful part of her that kept her trapped beneath the waves fought hard to force her to pull her hand away from the gentle giant, but the much smaller, weaker side of her that desperately craved this comfort won the battle today.

No matter how scary and painful this conversation had become, she couldn’t bring herself to pull away now.

“I tell you this story to let you know that I, too, know what it is like to lose your brother-in-arms and what it is like to walk through life with that lingering hefty weight of grief on your shoulders. I know what it feels like to sit through the darkest days and to feel as though you’re the only one who can bear your burdens. I tell you this story to show you that, though the grief of losing Akihiro had killed me in the land of the living for a very long time, I eventually found my happiness again with the help of the people who surrounded me. Even when I buried myself down to the deepest depths I could reach, people like Junko fought to meet me there, and eventually, she and the others pulled me out of that hole right by their sides.”

He gave her hand a tight, reassuring squeeze, widening his smile a little more again as he watched a couple more tears drip from the young woman’s eyes.

“I tell you my story to show you that, although the pain feels blinding and never-ending right now, you will find your happiness and joyful days within your tale again as well.”

With that, he released her hand and sat straight upon his zabuton once more, his hands coming to rest upon his laps.

“I won’t push you further than that. I know the pain you feel right now is suffocating and confusing, but I want you to know that I am here for you. I understand what you’re going through, and should you ever wish to have another talk, I will always be here. Our titles completely set aside, I view you as one of our own, so I will always welcome and treat you as such – Junko and I both. You know how much she has come to care for you; she would do anything to help lighten the load on your shoulders too, but only when you’re ready to let us in.”

Silently, _______ wept in her seat, her head lowering between her shoulders away from Namba’s gaze. She bit her quivering lower lip as best as she could, but it did little to help the tremors. From there, she watched with wide eyes as several of her tears dripped and fell upon the top of her palms, soaking her skin in lonesome resentment. Inside of her heart and mind, there were violent storms brewing in the middle of her distant seas, painful and tormenting, but…there was something about the pain which came with Namba’s story that felt almost…safe. To know that the two of them shared such similar, tragic stories helped to make her feel a little less alone in the boundless ocean she was adrift in.

Still, she wasn’t quite ready to try to swim towards him.

It was a territory she was far too afraid to explore right now.

Knowing he was there waiting for her, however, was definitely a comforting thought to have nonetheless.

Sniffling shakily, she wiped her face dry as best as she could with her free hand before standing to her feet once again. Lifting her teary gaze to meet with his, she met Namba’s patient eyes and deeply bowed for him in respect.

“Thank you…for everything, Namba-san…”

His eyes turned to gentle crescents, and he met her formal display with a strong, loving hand placed upon her head, ruffling her locks of (hair color) much the same way Rengoku used to.

“It’s nothing, young one. It’s nothing at all.”

~¤ ¤ ¤~

After _______ left the village head’s home, she wandered on her own to the edge of the cedar woods.

The massive cedars excitedly swished and swayed upon her arrival, almost giving the impression that they had missed her presence ever since she was last within their home. She, however, hesitated to enter their domain. She thought about it and stood in front of the forest’s edge for a long time just staring into the vast wilderness within, but she ultimately chose to remain where she was and took a seat on the very dirt path she was on.

Her mind was stormy, filled with a million different thoughts she had no idea how to sift through as she stared at Keisuke and Botan’s plum blossom pendants in her hands.

Namba’s words stuck to her and kept repeating in her mind from the moment she stepped through his door. In place of the vacant, guilty emptiness she felt upon waking up this morning, she now felt a strange stirring mix of both immense grief and another strong, intense emotion she couldn’t quite put her finger on just yet.

When she first got out of bed today, she didn’t know where life would be taking her next. In her mind, she should’ve died two nights ago – but she’s still here, and once again, she’s found her way back to the cedar woods despite everything which transpired within. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do with this breath in her lungs nor the heart caged within her which continued to thump and beat, but when she gazed upon the Watanbe family crests, something within her told her Keisuke and Botan would be happy to see her still standing – Keisuke, Botan and Rengoku.   

Her frown deepened at the thought, watching as her thumb traced the petals of the plum blossom on one of the boys’ pendants over and over within her palm.

Leaving this world isn’t easy. Passing away leaves so many loose ends left undone behind, it throws everyone involved into their own lost spirals with no real way of finding proper closure. She thought giving herself up to the demons in the woods would be the easy way out, that it would be the right thing to do, but admittedly, she hadn’t taken the chance to properly think over what would happen after her death when she had planned everything out. She tried to think a couple of steps ahead, but it wasn’t nearly enough to tie up all the loose ends she still had left to fix.

If she had died that night, what would become of Keisuke and Botan’s stories? Of the stories the three of them shared with Rengoku? Nobody would be able to tell the tales of their trio the way she could, so their stories would be lost to time.

What would become of Keisuke and Botan’s mother and father? They were their only children, and she was also aware that they came to look upon her as a daughter as well thanks to all the time she spent with their sons.

Did she really have it within her to force them to swallow the death of another one of their children like that?

What about all of her other friends in the Corps? Or all the friends she’s made in Tatsukawa Village? Would everyone come to feel the same way she did right now if Akaza had actually killed her that night? What would become of Tatsukawa Village itself? Reinforcements were yet to arrive, and it’s become gravely obvious that the battle for the lives of Tatsukawa wasn’t over yet.

If she died that night, would their blood stain her hands crimson as she was buried underneath the dirt?

What honor was there to be had in a death as selfish as that?

“None.” She murmured to herself, never once removing her gaze from the pendants in her hands. “That would’ve been a coward’s death…Could I…really allow things to end that way…?”

Before she could answer her own question, a familiar crowing caught her attention from above, the sound forcefully pulling her gaze away from the necklaces in her hands. Staring up towards the sky, through overarching branches of cedar, she could see her Kasugai Crow circling in on her, the flapping of its wings loud and rambunctious.

“Caw! _______! _______!”

Terumi crowed as she came to land by her side on the dirt path. There, she began to hop from side to side in front of her, turning her head over and over to always keep one of her never-blinking eyes on her at all times.  

“Your reinforcements request was received by headquarters, but there are currently no squads nor Hashiras available to take this mission! Caw! Caw! You are asked to remain in your post and protect the village as long as you can! Reinforcements will be sent the moment a squad or Hashira becomes available with Kakushi accompanying to bring you back to the Butterfly Mansion for rest and recovery! Caw!”

Her lips parted in surprise at the message relayed to her, but she promptly closed her mouth with a soft sigh.

She supposed it made sense. After Rengoku died and Tengen retired atop of all the lower ranked Slayers they had lost in recent events, there was a huge hole and deficit in the Corps. They were in desperate need of more people to aid in their fight, but they were yet to find proper solutions or form new teams experienced enough to take on high-ranked missions like that of Tatsukawa’s so quickly.

She glanced back down at Keisuke and Botan’s pendants, furrowing her brow as she considered her feelings towards this development.

Could she really bring herself to leave Tatsukawa Village in the hands of another squad or Hashira after everything she experienced here? Could she live on knowing she gave up like that? What of Keisuke and Botan’s pendants and the way they were so blatantly displayed in a pile of mockery and insult along with the belongings of so many other missing victims? Could she continue to breathe knowing she let go of the chance to track down the demon responsible so as to rid the Earth of its malicious existence?

Could she live on knowing she gave up on something Keisuke and Botan gave their lives fighting for?

All at once, a massive wave of determination crashed into her chest, mixing with the whitecaps and surfs of pain and regret she had become so used to.

She couldn’t.

She absolutely couldn’t.

She couldn’t live nor die giving up like that.

Her brothers-in-arms left Tatsukawa Village within her hands to protect and defend. They gave their lives to protect her own, dying with the belief that she would be victorious on behalf of their legendary trio. To live on or die without earning that victory and bringing Keisuke and Botan back home to their parents would be an insult to the legacy they fought so hard to leave behind.

“Terumi.”

She called her crow’s name, her determined gaze returning pointedly upon her companion who mirrored the look.

“Tell headquarters I have things under control in the village. I will continue to fight and protect Tatsukawa no matter what it takes, so there’s nothing to worry about. I will be their defender and continue to fight even when reinforcements are made available. Tell them I’m not going anywhere until Tatsukawa is free.”

Resolute with the new course she was charting in her new life, she chose to cement her decision by taking Keisuke and Botan’s necklaces and clasping them both around her neck. They weighed down encouragingly on her chest, giving her the limitless strength and support of the Watanabe brothers she loved so dearly.

Stirred by her choice, she stood to her feet the moment Terumi took to the skies with her message, watching as her crow flew further and further away until she was completely out of sight. Still, _______ stood there, watching the endless blue skies as her hand came to hold the plum blossom pendants close to her beating heart.

One way or another, all three of them would finish the mission they started.

Together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for making it this far! I hope you've been enjoying the series so far! <3 Thanks for your support by reading and engaging with my posts and chapters! If you'd like to read further ahead, feel free to check out any of my cross-posts links that are a couple chapters ahead! <3 Much love and hugs! God bless! <3

#fanfic #akaza #akaza comfort #akaza fanfic #akaza x reader #akaza x y/n #angst #angst and comfort #ao3 author #ao3 fanfic #demon slayer #demon slayer fanfic #rengoku #rengoku kyojuro #cross posted on quotev #cross posted on ao3 #cross posted on wattpad #fanfiction #fanfic series

[theyluvsavi]

#saiki k #kusuo saiki #ohshc #fanfic #bxb #ouran high school host club #ouran host club #tdlosk #cross posted on wattpad #cross posted on quotev #crossover #saiki no psi nan

[eevee1230]

summery: A forbidden child born of the sea A legacy born of falling stars and daughter of dreams Two friends who have different fates ahead of themselves but with help from their friends they will certainly get by Follow this ensemble cast of friends as they make it through their first adventure together and become close together Tw: language, slightly rushed subplots

{follows the first PJO book: The Lighting Thief}

Jackson Hall- The main male character who start a bit naive to the whole new world of his. Navigating it as he watches out for friends and enemies at every twist and turn

Tsukihana ‘Hana’ Morioka- The main female character who is an idealistic young woman at heart but in that sense she can miss the things in front of her

Despite her in her own head personality she is very observant even if she doesn’t catch on right away

Xander Morioka- A super smart guy who can be a bit stubborn but at the end of the day is a very good friend when you need him

He is also very observant and hardheaded at times and can also be a bit cunning and calculating when the situation demands it

Jade Vannavel- The resident voice of reason and emotional intelligence to her friends out.

She can be sensitive and empathetic to everyone’s problems and doesn’t mind listening and giving some advice back on the matter

Mia Vanderlin- A curious and adventurous girl who portrays herself tough on the outside but for those who succeed they with find a very protective, kind, motherly and caring side to her

here is a preview at my fic

 Chapter 1: There is a camp       It was a summer afternoon and three people that looked to be in their later teen years were sitting outside a Starbucks and chatting it up with one another. 

"So, Jackson, what are you going to do for the summer?" The raven-haired girl asks her friend

"Heading out towards the bay. Been stuck on the land way too long." Her friend, Jackson answers, smoothing back his jet-black hair with his hand as he replied, "You guys?" He then asked

"Kasan is taking us to our grandmother's. She owns an Observatory up in the mountains.” She let out a small, repressed squeal “I just Adore the stars and all their patterns. So many fun stories you can have." The female let out a small, dreamy sigh, closing her cloudy lavender eyes fondly

"You were always into the sky, Hana." Jackson replied with a bit of chuckle in his tone then turned to a blond guy who had starkly grey eyes and asked "X, what about you?"

"Same." The blonde male answers "Its sorta a family trip. We sorta own it even tho it’s overlooked by a-“ he was cut off by a pointed stare from Hana

“By a what X?”

“Uh, never mind, basically long story short our family owns the observatory property outside of town” he swiftly replies “Plus, it gives me a chance to see my favorite Cuz before I head to college" He grinned and swung an arm around Hana

"Egghead" Hana muttered wearing a grin of her own 

"You know it's true" he counters

"I'm your only cuz Xan." she retorts "Hey, get that arm out of my face or I'll bite it" Hana swatted his hand away playfully while giggling and rolling her eyes. "So what coast are you going to then?" Hana directed her attention back at her friend and asked Jackson "East or West? Is there even a difference in which you go? They are both bodies of water, right?"

"Heading out East,” Jackson answers “and yes the marine life is way better in the East. Much more prehistoric the farther you get."

"Interesting" Xander mused, he had an analytical look on his face "...Well I hope you have fun my friend" he grinned nonchalantly 

"I mean to be honest; I'm just surprised that I made it through the whole school year." Jackson confessed "Hate being confined down"

Hana let out a small laugh "Yeah, you're free as a horse sometimes, no one can tell you what to do.”

"Well, it would be fitting" Xander comments "A horse in spirit animal sense does mean freedom all above else and I'd say Jackson here is a rebel at heart, to be free from the reigns of society"

"I totally agree" Hana nods "Also sailing, sounds interesting but a bit tedious"

"Whatever, it's where I feel the calmest" Jackson retorts

"Whatever makes you happy right," the ravenette girl shrugs "I'm not judging"

"Heading out in a couple of days, when are you heading out?" he asks the pair of cousins 

"July 1st" Xander answers "it's for the 4th of July trip, Grandmother has something special planned for that, so we can't wait to see," he said with a hint of eagerness in his tone

"We're staying there until the end of the lunar festival" Hana adds "We are working on a project as well. I would tell you but now's not the right time" she winks

"Alright, well I've got to head out, checking out. Wait hold on. What the hell is that?" Jackson's eyes widen as he points to something or someone behind the two

"What?" the two cousins said at the same time, turning their heads 

"Uh, do you remember Kasan saying something about a bipedal goat guy before?" Hana questioned

"Satyr; And no." Xander shook his head "At least in this context. I thought they were supposed to be...wild" he replied equally as confused

'Shit, shit, I've seen these things before. But why now? Means that they're close' Jackson forebodingly thought to himself "Well it's been fun, but I need to leave. LIKE NOW!" Jackson says trying to make a hasty escape 

"Where are you going you cowardly baka!" Hana calls out a bit annoyed and disappointed at her friend's meek and cowering actions 

"Just away from here." Jackson answers back in a ‘don’t you know’ tone

"No, don't run! I'm not going to hurt you guys" the satyr said, trying his best to placate the matter

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jackson questions, still in a state of shock. His eyes look like they are about to pop 

"Come any closer and I'll pepper spray you, creeper.” Hana threatens, wiping out a small pepper spray bottle "Were you stalking us? Weido." she shakes her head

"I was sent to find you Jack. Hell, been trying for months, but every time I get close you three just leave." The satyr explains

Xander had an expression that he was ready to fight, but also in a deep pensive analysis of the situation

"My name's Connor." The satyr introduces "I'm a satyr sent to find demigods and bring them to camp."

'demigods?'

'camp?'

'what's going on?'

"You are not safe here." the satyr, Connor warns urgently 

"The hell do you mean we are not safe? What's going on?!" Jackson exclaims 

"Xan, what do you think? Do you think this guy is telling the truth?" Hana asks looking at her pensive cousin "If not then I'm ready to pepper spray him and dislocate his arm if not then" Conner winced at her threat a bit “but hey, if not, satyrs aren’t the worst way to uhm…”

"That is, speaking if he is or was mortal" Hana's blond-headed cousin replied, "Tho a satyr wouldn't be that hard to disarm I'd as well imagine." 

"Jackson, look at yourself. You were ready to run the second you saw me, worried that I might bring them back." Conner argued 

Xander and Hana gave each other knowing glances, questioning what the goat boy was referring to

"How… how the hell did you know?" Jackson retorts back at the satyr. The atmosphere grew a bit thicker from the tension going around

"Jackson, look at me!" conner exclaims, grabbing the dark-haired man's attention "I'm half-goat man, I come from a place where we deal with this voodoo stuff a lot." he tries to calm the frantic male down before he has an existential crisis. Tho, maybe he was a bit too late on the whole crisis thing "I know why you're worried, that's why I was sent to get you. You’re in serious danger."

"What camp? And why do you need me?" Jackson asks "And what about the other two?" They glance over at the other teens who were conversing in Japanese to hopefully keep their conversation a bit more private from the strange satyr

"So, we're just going to trust him or what?"

"I say yes but with caution."

"Damn you Xan" Hana hissed

"We'll ask our parents when we'll get the chance, how bout?" The blonde suggests

"Whatever,” she crossed her arms “I trust your call, just hopefully don't be wrong."

"Listen, how much do you three know about the Greek Mythos?" Connor asks

"Our parents told us to tell a few to us as bedtime stories" Xander answers

"Then when we made 15 years old our parents told us a bit more, like how the magical world existed" Hana adds 

'And something about being demigods and legacies. But demigods of whom? they still won't say.'

"But we never heard of this camp" Xander replied, shaking his head

"But there were no monsters or goat people in the fine print" Hana retorts with her hands on her hips

"Satyr, not goat men" Connor corrected 

"Same thing, you're still half goat either way." She retorts in a sassy tone

"And where it gets hard to believe is that it's not a myth, it's real, and I was sent here since you three are the children of Greek gods" he continued

Hana had an exasperated and deadpanned expression “so you come and show up out of nowhere, claim it’s for our ‘safety’ or whatever. This magical camp. And now have us drop whatever we are doing to go follow some strange goat into the woods” she chided, with each word getting close to Connor’s face “hey let’s just throw a gingerbread house in and call it a day” she adds sarcastically

“Hana, I think he’s right." Jackson said grabbing the ravenette's attention by putting a hand on her shoulder, she pulls back from the slightly terrified satyr "There’s been something that I’ve been hiding. From the both of you.” Jackson spoke up with a small sigh

“And what’s that?” They both glance back, Xander with his analytical glance and Hana with her tired yet exasperated look in her eyes “What is it?” They ask again

“Something your hiding?” Hana, curiously tilts her head, raising her brows a bit 

“We’re your friends, we’ll understand” Xander smiles reassuringly 

“When he said I’ll bring them back. He’s not kidding. I didn’t want to say anything, but I believe we are not safe here. There are these creatures that have been stocking me for the better side of a year now. I just didn’t want to say anything but the satyrs right? We need to leave.” Jackson confessed 

the two exchanged glances as if they knew what the other thought, which was very similar 'He is one of us'

“And where is he leading us too, huh?” Hana chided sending a distrustful glare at Connor 

“Sorry she gets fussy when she doesn’t get to finish her cup of morning substitutes” Xander apologizes Even though he knew that was a bald-faced lie. He can't say he trusts this strange satyr 100% either, he just met him after all

“It’s called camp half-blood.” Connor answers the demigoddess “It’s not that far actually. But we need to head out fast. We got company.”

 To Jackson’s horror, it was the same creature that had been chasing him for a year now. Some kind of haft man haft bull thing. The only issue, it found him.

‘Pasiphae‘s son, the Minotaur? But how?’ Xander thought

‘This would be a really good topic to bring up at the next family gathering for sure’ Hana mused 'Oh hey we almost got killed by the fricking minotaur'

“…NANI!...But how did an ancient Minotaur find a high school student?” Xander exclaimed 

“More interesting question why is Pasiphae’s son even after Jackson?” Hana adds on

“Good questions, another question: WHY AREN’T WE RUNNING!? Goat man fucking get us out of here!” Jackson asks the loudest

“Alright, this way.” Connor motions for them to follow “I know this forest better than that thing does.” The group of four dashes into the forest with the best right on their tails 

        Soon the team ran into the forest only for the beast to continue the chase 

“Ahh, I’m running out of caffeine and fumes to run!” Complained Hana as she swung herself down from the trees to the level of the other, she was lagging behind a bit out of curiosity as she counted each boom of thunder and rumble of hooves “I dang it I shouldn’t have ditched out in gym”

“Anything else?” Xander says glancing up at her. Hana sharply sighed and sent a suggestive gesture with her fingers to the blond, and he just shook his head.

They felt a rumbling and a low growl of the best not far from them. ”The beast is persistent; I’ll give them that.” Hana replied with a small shrug

"We can't just keep running" he argued 

"It's already almost sunset"

"How can you tell? It has been cloudy all afternoon?"

” I… I don’t know, I just have this feeling. I mean look the sky is getting darker, so what else could It be.”

However, Hana was wrong. Yes, the sky was darkening, but not due to the falling sun. It was the sky getting ready to cry. Rainfall began to pour, drenching the forest and everything stuck in there.

This did not affect the creature, as its rage caused the drops to boil off his horns the second the water hit them. Connor, Hana, and Xan kept running with the satyr as they attempted to lose this monster.

The only person that felt any kind of change, was Jackson. Instead of dread and fear running through him. It was replaced with anger and power. The bravest, strong, and instinctive he has felt in months. Without saying a word to the group. He ran in a different direction, a patch that had an open in the tree. Where the sky was free.

The creature saw this and abandoned the other three since Jackson was the one he was looking for. Running through and tracking this kid down, he eventually stop and saw him, all alone with no one around.

“I’m done running. Come and get me.” Jackson said 

what comes next, is hard to explain.

 Connor, Hana, and Xan stopped running after they saw they were no longer being chased. Confused and scared, they huddle down for a second before hearing a sharp cry in the forest. The only thing, it wasn’t quite human. Scared that it got Jackson, they ran to where they heard the cry, only to see… the monster dead. 

Horn ripped out, cut badly, and stabbed through the center, with a pissed-off Jackson standing on top, not saying a word

“Jackson. Jack, How, how the hell did you–What happened? You… you still with us buddy, say something.”

Connor stuttered, lost for words, the others just stood there in place at the sight. The group saw Jackson standing over the dead creature's body slowly turning into golden powder and Jackson was about to pass out.

They had eyes the size of disc plates at the sight of their friend. Standing over the creature that had been chasing them through the woods.

Before they knew what happened though. Jackson passes out and fell in front of the group.

“JACKSON! Oh my…um, did he...is he dead?!” Hana asked 

“No, he’s not dead, he is breathing but he’s hurt bad. We need to hurry. Get him out of here fast” Connor said

”Xan, can you, can you please carry him, we need to hurry.” she said helping Jackson onto Xander’s back"

“Does your camp have first aid?” Xander muttered, securing Jackson’s weight on his back 

“No, we got something better, a god.”

“I swear that Baka will get himself killed one day” Hana sighed as she and Xander followed the satyr to camp

“I just wanna know how the hell he killed the Minotaur that fast. And no training or weapons nonetheless” Connor says, still a bit perplexed 

“Wild child” Xander shrugged 

“He’s a baka. That’s all I’ll say” Hana retorts with a huff

#percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo fandom #pjo fanfic #cross posted on quotev #original character #luke castellan #ethan nakamura #part of a series

[drawing-shooting-stars]

Choices

Prologue: About the Author's

HELLO, this is my first story and me and my friend just came up with this we were jamming to Hazbin Hotel and this came up so I thought I'd tell you about me, Cameron, and Max who is my friend if you want to skip this part that's fine I did not pre-write this it's just what's coming out of my head right now. On to the introduction, I'm Cameron (the one mainly writing) I LOVE Hazbin Hotel it's one of my favorite shows and I really wanted to make a fanfic about it. I love Genshin Impact, Minecraft, and Fnaf, and I'm just that weird nerd kid in the corner of the class who loves video games and reads fanfics in the corner of their English class and in bed at 3am. My favorite Hazbin Hotel Character is Alastor and I'm ashamed to say Vox. I love them fighting and Vox makes me laugh everytime. More Then Anything makes me cry as well so that's about me, Cameron. Now I going to have my Co-writer say some stuff.

Hello! I’m Max and I’m the second author of this. I’ve written a couple fanfics before(If you’re reading this on AO3 then you can see them on my profile(Straw_Draw)) I also help as a beta reader because Cameron can’t spell for shit(love them tho<3) I like Bungo Stray Dogs, OMORI, Genshin Impact, FNAF, and drawing :3 My favourite Hazbin characters are Angel Dust and Lucifer. I hope you enjoy the story!

Now that that's done let's get into the plot, the problem is that this story does not really have one yet BUT let's get into the back story that's more important, right? Anyway let's start with Cameron, They go by They/them and are non-binary and pansexual! Natoku(Max) is aromantic and bisexual and go by He/They. Cameron and Vox owned a TV company when they were alive Max used to help from time to time. One day when they were working Max was being dumb (this was Cameron’s plan in the first place by the way) they wanted to prank Vox with water which he hates everything to do with water he hates drinking it, hates swimming, and hates everything to do with water. Max got a big water bottle and tried to dump it on Vox and long story short the water made the whole place explode leaving them all dead. Thank you for listening to me rant on and we hope you enjoy!! And Thanks to the creator of Hazbin Hotel VivziePop for making one of the most amazing things I have ever watched so thank you!

#hazbin hotel #fanfic #hazbin hotel vox #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin hotel ocs #cross posted on ao3 #cross posted on wattpad #cross posted on quotev #self insert #out of character.

[crowwithguns]

There’s a part of me, that’s appealingly sweet.

This was a request from @GalacticEmpireCadet. Yxavi is their oc, I have no credit in her. Check them out, they are really cool!

My editor/beta was astral thank you so much!

——————

Just outside the platform where the statue of Raiden stood was a small makeshift fur stand run by trappers. Next to the stand was a very small cage, and in it was a small child. no older than maybe five or so, as she was bone thin as she shook. The child was thin, and her fur was spotty and torn. Her tail was thin and ragged. She had several open wounds as well. The stand was just outside the normal market place, but still close enough that it didn’t stand out too much.

**

**

One of the samurai was talking to one of the hunters, as he had spotted the six-year-old holding a cryo vision, which the overheated child was using to help keep her cool as she lay weak in the cell. Her arms and neck were covered in rashes. The man was trying to investigate, as his partner had already run to inform Raiden of the rather strange occurrence of a snow kitune with a vision in the city.

**

It was a normal day for the Raiden Shogun, sitting and listening to reports from her advisors.

She has been trying to be more of a part of present-day Inazuma.

‘And that is why I believe we should-‘

The doors open with a resounding slam.

‘YOUR HIGHEST!’  A young samurai burst through the doors, panting as though they had run the whole way here: "I highly apologize for coming here unannounced, but me and my partner seem to have found a young kitsuna!"

They said it, clearly out of breath.

"And what of it?"

"T-they are being sold."

It seems she may have to take a trip to town sooner than she planned.

 —————

The shogun walks toward the statue of her likeness; she was informed the sale was happening here. She was very unhappy that a likely criminal picked this location.

As she walks, heads turn and conversation stops, all eyes on their archon. Some filled with fear, some anxiety, some awe, some pure respect.

The foregoing samurai was still discussing with the trapper, trying to get him to hand over the child, as the shogun walked up. Raiden notes the clear terror on the face of the child in the cage as, as she believes, she backs away into the back of her cage.

The samurai greets her with barely concealed shock. Clearly, he believed she would send someone to go for her. He was wrong.

"Your highness," she greets him with a quick "greetings" before he explains the situation. She looks coldly at the trapper, causing him to start stuttering off greetings and apologize.

She holds up a finger, quickly quieting the man. It seems no matter how fair she is, mortals always act like this, and the only one who seems to understand her is Miko.

She walks over to the cage and inspects its condition with a cold eye. She binds herself down to the cage and says softly, "I am Raiden Shogun, but you may call me Raiden." "What is your name?" She puts on her kindest smile, doing her best to not threaten the child.

The kid slowly moves her ears as Raiden speaks, her dual-colored eyes finally opening to look at Raiden. Raiden feels a ping of warmth in her The kid was silent for a few seconds, wheezing as she attempted to answer. "Y-y-Yxavi..." she says barely above a whisper.

Raiden committed that to memory, smiling lightly. "Yxavi, Yxavi," she says, as though trying out the name, "that’s a beautiful name." "Yxavi, do you know where your parents or guardians are?" She asked.

Her eyes moved to some pure white pelts with blue streaks that the trapper had on display as her ears flattened. She curled up more as she shook. but she didn’t verbally answer.

Raiden follows the kid's line of sight, her eyes widening. She understands now. Raiden stands and looks at the trapper. "You.  What is your name?" He startles and sputters out, 'Mark Diggins.' She nods coldly and says, "Mark Diggins, I have seen all I need to see. You are here under arrest. Do you have any reason why I should not?"

He stands there in shock before his face turns unreadable. "I am just trying to sell my pelts that I got from Dragonspine. They are a very rare kind, and due to their quality, they are very helpful with shielding from storms and the cold." They stare at each other for a few seconds.

She is in rage, pelts? PELTS??  Those were people! But she can’t let her anger show; she must keep up her emotionless shogun persona. "I mean not of your wears. I mean the child caged in your shop. State.  Your. Defense."  She says it with a sense of finality.

The trapper, 'Mark,' looks a bit shocked; she cares, "That is a live pelt, nothing more than a creature from Dragonspine. Its pelt is still fine and soft." He seems annoyed.

"Upon order of the electro archon, this "live pelt" is under the protection of me." and shall be taken to the grand Narukami Shrine at once." Her voice was booming, startling many customers who were just getting comfortable with her presence. She looks at the samurai, seemingly expecting him to get on the job.

"What of the vision, Shogun?" They say they are unsure if she wants the vision hunt decree order to be in effect.

As she raised her voice, Yxavi whimpered a bit in fear. Upon hearing the whimper, she looks behind her; seeing the kitten in fear, she binds down again to say, "It’s ok, child, I am not angry at you." "All shall be alright soon enough."

She looks down at the shaking child, clutching the vision like a lifeline. "This matter shall be discussed at the shrine, but as of now, she keeps it." Her voice left no room for debate. 

Yxavi seems to be struggling to get out; she is stuck. The samurai nods and walks over to open the cage. He helps the child, who is warm to the touch.

She calls a guard over, stating, "Take this man to the cells, so his trial can be arranged." The guard nods excitedly, seemingly happy to serve her. The guard with Yxavi seems to be struggling; the child’s claws slightly pull on his armor.

Raiden makes a rash decision: "Help your comrade with Mr. Diggins; I shall take the child."

The samurai stares at Raiden with a confused look. "Are you sure, Miss Shogun?" "I can handle her." 

"Indeed, I must speak with Miss Miko; now ride eternal and help your comrade." She said this, trying not to sound agitated. walking over to the samurai to take Yxavi.

The guard nods and hands the child over. Raiden frowns, feeling how warm she is. The kid immediately relaxes in her soft hold, dropping her vision. The guard picks it up and hands it to Raiden. She takes it and puts it in her pocket. 

She begins to walk away, ignoring Mark's yells. 

When the weight of the situation finally hits her, she is just outside the city and has a kid. A kid, while it may be for a short while, is still responsible. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take too long to get to you. She looks around and sees the mountains silhouetted in the distance. 

She looks down at the kid and says, "Hello there. So you come from Dragonspine?" "I have a friend who tells me all about mondstat and dragon spine; he is a bard." She hopes talking about her home will make her happier and explain more. Win win.

Yxavi looks up at Raiden, confusion clear on his face. "B-blood snow," she says. This must be what she calls it. 

‘Hm?’  Raiden hums in thought. "Oh, is that what you called your home?" "That's a very clever name," she says, not fully aware of how to speak to kids. "Well, here we call it dragonspine." She smiles warmly. She has no idea why, but this child makes her so happy.

She nods, yawning, before coughing roughly and badly. Her tiny claws gripped Raiden tight. "T-that’s a cool name." She seems to be sleepy, Raiden notes.

Raiden smiles at her. "Yes, it is; you may sleep; I will be here when you wake," she promises, with every intention to keep it.

The child looks at her with teary eyes and says, "N-no trapper?" She asks weakly, looking around and sniffing at the air to check. 

Raiden nods sadly, "no trappers." She pauses, "I will protect you for eternity." She promises, and she is making a lot of those today. 

The child seems to calm before yawning and nuzzling Raiden's shoulder. Dear her, who could think to hurt this kid?

Raiden looks at her sleeping form, hesitantly patting her head lightly. She can’t help but remember when she had to take him away.

——————

After a while, they make it to the shrine. She would have been faster, but she didn’t want to wake the child. Miko greets them happily: "It’s been so long; glad to see you up and running."

"Miko, I have found a young kitsuna being sold in the city; I need your help." She said it straight to the point, like always. A few shrine maidens gasped in shock.

Yae frowns and nods; Raiden can see her hands clinching. "Bring her here." What is wrong? "Tell me everything." She says it demandingly, and the other maidens look horrified at the way she spoke to their archon. Raiden does not mind.

Raiden nods and walks forward, setting the young child down. She explains all the injustices she is aware of. Throughout the whole thing, Yae looks more and more worried. 

Raiden waits in silence for a while before finally saying, "They were selling her as a live pelt," she says hesitantly.

Yae growls, "She is but a baby for her kind!" "I can only imagine where her parents are!" She says she's grabbing things to treat her high fever and rashes, but she can’t fix her fear or trauma.

Raiden stays silent for a long while before finally saying, "I believe they were killed for fur." She immediately looks away and avoids looking at either of the kitsunas.

Yae sucks in a breath and says, "I thought so." She says coolly, instructing a shrine maiden to bring her a towel and a bowl of water.

Raiden silently places the vision next to her, having already decided she can keep it. Yae looks at it, and then she nods approvingly.

Yae looks over at Raiden. "I would like you to go get me a lot of ice." "As much as you can find, she needs the cold." 

Raiden nods and says, "It shall be done." She will make sure to care for this child; there will not be a redo of him. 

She walks down the mountain much quicker without a child to keep safe and resting. 

——————

About 20 minutes later, a samurai comes with two bags of ice. "Sorry, lady, the shogun has requested that I ask you to let her have a bit of time to look into something." 

Yae takes the ice, understanding what she is most likely looking for.

——————

Raiden is taking a breather; all that has happened today has left her very frazzled.

Walking by the stand from earlier, she sees the pelts. Immediately stopping the guards, she takes the pelts. 

Examining them with a trained eye, they are clearly the parents. She knows she cannot take them to the shrine because of the child being there, so she writes a letter she sends with her fastest crow, telling Miko of her findings.

——————

Yae was watching over the child, smiling as her state had vastly improved. As she was going to change the towel on her head, she heard a loud "CAW" sound. Turing around quickly, she sees a crow with a letter. She opens it to read it.

Dear Miko,  I have been gone for a very short amount of time, but I have found much. I have found the pelts of the parents; they were being sold at the same stand. along with many other furs. It seems Mr. Diggins was very well trained in his craft. 

P.S. Don’t eat the bird.

Yae frowns as she spites out the crow, who staggers away. When the crow returns, the feathers are wet and messed up. Raiden chuckles a bit at the sight.

——————

When Raiden came back, Yae seemed to have been waiting. "You give me a snack and yet say I may not eat it?" "How cruel of an archon." 

Rauden notes the lack of shrine maidens. It seems you wanted this to be private. 

Raiden pulled out a plate of dango, having expected her friends' antics. "Here.  "That was my fastest crow; we could not afford to lose it." Her tone lowered. "I have the pelts; I can show you when we are out of sight of the child."

Yaw nodded and frowned a bit. If anyone knew the pelt was a kitune, it would be Yae.

Raiden takes Yae to a stand at the shrine. Gently laying the pelts on the table, she sadly ran her eyes down and up them. 

Yae gently handled the pelts, stroking them. "I understand you already know what I am about to tell you." She says it sadly.

Raiden just nods, silent. I mean, what can an archon say? ‘Oh yeah!  That horrible man murdered two people and skinned them! No.  You stay silent.

Yae puts the pelts down; it’s clear she cannot handle holding them any longer. "So this child is alone." away from her natural climate. "And being hunted?" Yae asks, but everyone knows it’s not a question.

Raiden doesn’t answer, "What do you say we do?" She asks, and for the first time in years, Raiden is helpless. 

Yae looks down. "I can try and raise her as a maiden of the shrine, but I cannot protect her for her lack of documents and papers, nor for her gift." She says the last part sadly.

Raiden nods.  "That would be best." "I have already bestowed my blessing on her." She thinks for a bit: "I could also train her on how to fight and use her vision."

Yae looks down at the table—and the pelts by extension—with a guilty look and says, "I feel she will be safer with you." "I understand you’re busy, but in my line of work, I can’t have a small child under my tail; she can get wounded." She says this as though expecting Raiden to disagree. And Raiden should; she is an archon; she has no place to be a mother, not after how she failed him.

But she still says, "I see." I will have to make arrangements for her stay. "I will need time to get it all together." Yaes' eyes light up. 

"I will take a break from my duties until then and tend to her; she will take time to heal... "She is still just inches from a grave."

Raiden looks at Yae in the eye and asks, "What of Mr. Diggins?" She waits patiently for her friend to answer.

Yae doesn’t answer. If she were in charge, she would want Diggins painfully executed, but it’s not her choice.

Raiden understands what she is thinking and feeling quickly; Yae couldn’t get the smile on her face fast enough.

It was a few hours after Raiden made all the needed plans for the execution. She now needs to have a trial with the trapper to give the illusion of fairness.

——————

Raiden takes a deep breath. Even though she doesn’t need to, she finds it grounding. "You are being charged with two counts of murder." 1 count of kidnapping Multiple counts of unlawful possession of contraband and a multitude of other charges. "How do you plead?"

"I plead innocent under legal trade and hunting possession." Mr. Diggins seems to have that memorized or rehearsed.

She looks at him with barely hidden disdain. "In which nation has this been issued?"

"Mondstadt, and most recently, I got possession to trade and sell hunted pelts in Inazuma." He seems smug. 

"You may have permission to sell and trade pelts, but that does not explain the other charges you have accumulated." "A hunting license does not mean you can kill people." She emphasized the word "people."

"I hinted the pelts out of the nation." "And in the nation where I hunted the pelts, kitsunes are not recognized as people but instead as animals." He says it calmly. 

The audacity  "That may be true in the other six nations, but in Inazuma they are recognized as citizens." The head shrine maiden is a kitsune. In the nation of Inazuma, you have committed the murder of two people and kidnapped another. Then sold the bodies of the first two. She says, clearly mad. 

He opened his mouth in shock. "How would I have known that the already abstained pelts, which were inspected and approved at port, would be considered people?" He yells

She is now the one to look smug. "You, as a trader in Inazuma, are expected to have read and understood the laws of this nation." Even if I were to let you off the hook for that, you still had possession of a young child. This young child is under my protection and care. "If they were seen as animals here, you would be getting charged with animal abuse and cruelty."

The man looked down, and he could tell there was no way to charm his way out of this. 

"Have you any more contradictory points?" she says; she knew she won. 

"No maam."

She nods and motions to a waiting guard: "You have been found guilty on all charges by the courts." "You shall be taken back to your cell while we discuss your punishment."

He nodded and followed the gaurd. Another gaurd opened another door, and Yae walked in with the child.

Raiden walks over to the two kitsunas and says, "The trial went smoothly." "I really will have to speak with the other archons about Kitsuna rights," she chuckles.

Yae nods a bit as she holds the child close. She clearly cared a lot for her. "I didn’t want to miss the news or help with the decision." "But I did not wish to leave the kit alone with the maidens."

Raiden nods.  "Now all I need is the promise of their archon or leader."

"What do you mean?" She looked confused as Yxavi started to wake up; her vision was not on her as Yae was having it merged with a small headdress-like piece to keep it with her.

"A long while ago, before the archon war, a law was passed so an archon could not execute a citizen of another nation without the permission of the leader or archon of that nation." "Just so all judgments shall be fair." Raiden explains.

Yae nods.  "Guess I should send word for Jean then?" 

Raiden nods “indeed”

3,238 words, 9 pages.

https://quotev.com/story/15707839

#genshin inpact #raiden shogun #raiden ei #yae miko #orignal character #fanfic #fanfiction #quotev #cross posted on quotev

[kamari333]

In other news, I have now crossposted the fic I call "Mamihlapinatapai" to a couple sites. I've been experimenting with crossposting to get experience and see what other writers' experiences are like. It's been fun in its own way.

You can still find the original post on <AO3>

You can read it on <Quotev>

You can read it on <Wattpad>

I considered popping it onto my old ass FF.net account too. But i don't know if it's worth the trouble. FFnet isnt convenient to post on mobile...

Anyway this was a fun experiment.

#kamari333fanfiction #cross posted on ao3 #cross posted on quotev #cross posted on wattpad

[insert-a-pseudonym]

Troubles are mine

Forwarding my free will used to sound like shit  But now I do it all the time like an addict It smooths things over so easy, it eases me I'll let you do all the thinking, all of the thinking I don't make my choices, yours for the taking

I don't need to know what's waiting for you I don't need to know what you're gonna do  Follow you blindly, won't bother to read  Any of the fine print on this contract  You would never hurt me, you'd never do that

But I know you will, yet I choose to still Chase you down; I will die on this hill I belong where the sun casts your shadow  The only other option is chasing the wind Where else should I be but this dividend? 

You can play dress up with my actions I give you permission, I give you sanction Do whatever to me; you steal and I borrow  Are you chasing for some kind of inner peace Or something to tuck in between your teeth? 

#poetry #poems on tumblr #cross posted on quotev

[knightprincess]

Forgive Me (Echo x Medic Reader) Part 19

Words: 2K Warnings: None - Does mention Clone Rebellion Pronouns used: She/Her - (Y/N) and (Y/L/N) also used

"Calm yourself, Echo," called Rex as he put the freighter he shared with the Arc Trooper and Gregor on autopilot. "Wolffe won't let anything happen to her, whether they're together or not," added the great captain, swiveling the pilot's chair around to face his companions, noticing Gregor seemed preoccupied with something. 

"She's with him," confidently replied Gregor, throwing his feet on the dashboard as he leaned back and relaxed a little more, a grin appearing across his lips mere moments later. "Didn't you hear?" asked the Commando, not wording he'd recognize Snap's giggle anywhere, especially when he purposely wound up Wolffe. 

"How do you know it was (Y/N) and not some civvie Wolffe picked up?" asked Echo, almost as if he assumed Wolffe was similar to Fives and Jesse, even Gregor himself, when it comes to the charm and ladies. His question only served to amuse Gregor, who loudly laughed while Rex shook his head as if trying to rid himself of unwanted mental images. 

"Wolffe ..." started Rex with a sigh before stopping, almost as if he searched for the right words. "He doesn't trust those outside of his circle, especially civvies..." continued the great captain, recalling the times in 79's when Wolffe had been somewhat relaxed but still on guard. "After the judgment and fear he received because of his eye, he grew colder to outsiders," explained Rex, trying to word the explanation in the kindest ways possible, determined not to offend the Commander even if he wasn't there. 

"Upon my return from The Void, I was assigned as her protector alongside Gruffles; I'd recognize her laughter anywhere," answered Gregor, once again nicknaming Wolffe, similar to how he'd nicknamed others around him based on their personality and his knowledge of them. "Plus, we have Cody's account; that has to count for something," he added, returning his gaze to the ordinary colors of hyperspace, almost welcoming the distraction despite knowing it wouldn't last long. 

"You'll see her soon enough. I'm sure Snap will be just as thrilled to see you as you are for her," spoke Rex, changing the subject to the impending reunion once more, almost seeing the irony. The scenario was almost an exact repeat of before, except now it was just Rex himself and Gregor instead of Clone Force 99, General Skywalker, and Rex. Instead of returning to a military base of operations on Anaxes, Snap is within the ranks of the GAR, serving with the 501st. Now, she was touring the length of the galaxy with Wolffe, hiding from the empire and their unknown desires and motivations. 

"I'll tell her about her family," voiced Gregor, seemingly lost in the swirls of hyperspace, although it was clear he was thinking of an impending reunion too. Rex and Echo glanced at each other, both still debating if it was a good idea to tell her Devika was the only family she truly had left. Octavius and Isolde had both been killed at the end of the war, and (Y/N)'s parents and other immediate family members had been killed not long after for one reason or another. Her parents vocally protested what happened at the Military Base. The others for trying to protect both Snap and Devika. "Good idea or not, Snap deserves to know the truth. It's better it comes from someone she trusts than allowing the imps to weaponize it." 

"Where is Devika now?" asked Echo, recalling the younger woman with a love for politics. Despite everything, she stood as a fighter for Clone Rights alongside senators Chuchi, Organa, and Mon Mathma. "I don't recall seeing her around the senate building," added the Arc Trooper, concern beginning to flood his voice, even more so when Omega had mentioned some she'd met when with Riyo. 

"The Queen of Naboo extended an invitation to her, she's been helping survives of the purge get away and hide" replied Rex, recalling briefly meeting the young politician when on Naboo before, at first he thought she was (Y/N), the two being almost identical. "The queen keeps her protected until the times right for her to return to the Senate, likely as a fully-fledged senator," added the great captain, hearing Gregor chuckle, noticing something few others seemed to recognize. 

"I wonder if they did that on purpose?" questioned Gregor, purposely being vague with his line of thought. Another chuckle fled his lips mere moments later upon glancing at Echo and Rex, seeing the confusion written across their features. "Snap and Wolffe running across the galaxy is distracting the imps to the point they haven't even realized Devika is probably the bigger threat. One refuses to give the empire what they want out of sheer stubbornness, and the other is basically building a rebellion," explained the Commando, seeing the irony in the situation. Almost as if the (Y/L/N) sisters had used the divide and conquer tactic against the empire. 

"If that was planned, they're doing a good job at it," replied Echo, a proud grin coming to his lips, even more so when their plan seemed to be working. "Tech would be proud," laughed the Arc Trooper, thinking of how Tech and the rest of the Bad Batch would respond. 

"So would the rest of the boys," added Rex, knowing all their brothers would be proud of what the (Y/L/N) sisters had managed to do, even if it was unintentional. "And General Skywalker," he added, thinking of the unorthodox Jedi Knight he'd served under for the entirety of the war. Deep down, Rex liked to think the General would be pleased his creative thinking had rubbed off the civvie medic and the senator. "I think Senator Amidala would be proud too; I'm sure if she was still here, she'd be doing as Devika is now," sorrowfully added Rex, sadness glimmering in his eyes to think of all those lost at the end of the war for various reasons. 

"Speaking of planned things," started Gregor, pulling his feet from the dashboard, being careful not to catch any buttons and leavers. "How do you plan to sway old Wolffee to join your rebellion?" curiously worded the Commando, suspecting it would be no easy feat to convince the Commander to join the ranks of the growing clone rebellion. "And the rest of Clone Force 99?" he added with haste, suspecting Rex had a plan to convince the three remaining lads of the Bad Batch to join them. 

"Hunter, Tech, and Wrecker have Omega to think about; her safety is the number one priority for them," voiced Rex, acknowledging in order for the rest of the bad batch to fight, they would have to be sure Omega would be protected. "As for Wolffe, it shouldn't be much trouble; convincing Snap will be far harder," he replied, knowing the plan Cody had thought of would certainly help, but it relied on (Y/N) and put her in more danger than she was already in. It involved putting her into the heart of the empire's secret goings-on. 

"Convince Snap of what?" asked Echo, quickly deciphering he wasn't going to like the answer. Still, he pushed the growing fear and judgment of the situation aside to listen with a clear mind. Rex could only sigh, whereas Gregor clearly displayed his disagreement with Cody's plan; even if it would help them, he was still insistent it wasn't worth the risk. 

"Before Cody went looking for General Kenobi, he shared a plan with Rex. It would help with the rebellion and freeing our brothers, but it will also put (Y/N) in the heart of all the danger," worded Gregor, displeasure dripping from his normally smooth voice as he slumped back into the co-pilot chair he'd occupied as if protesting against the idea once again. 

"We know clones within the imperial ranks and prisons are disappearing. They're transferred to a secret facility somewhere and never heard from or mentioned again. Cody theorized they were doing experiments on them, he'd heard whispers of a top secret project, Death or Dark Troopers" wearily began Rex as if he was doubting his own judgement for agreeing with the idea in the first place. It was dangerous, and (Y/N) was no soldier, "Snap was supposed to be transferred to the Advanced Science Division when the war ended, but Wolffe, with help from Fox, got to her first. The Science Division is also involved in the disappearances; at first, I thought it was a coincidence, but the more time that passes, the more I believe whoever runs the division had a purpose for wanting (Y/N)," added Rex, sighing as the truth was slowly dawning on him, why the empire wanted to send Snap to such as place. 

"To use her as a weapon against us," voiced Gregor, pointing out the obvious answer as well as displaying his disagreement with practically handing Snap to the Science Division on a silver platter. "We clones are loyal to her. We're her army. Who better to use against us?" added the Commando, thinking like the enemy to come to the only logical answer there was. Snap wasn't going to join the empire willingly; the imperials knew it, so her purpose was to be a tool, leverage to force clones to do what the imperials wanted. 

"I agree with Gregor," stated Echo, not willing to put Snap in danger, especially if there was another way to get what they needed without taking such a risk. "I know (Y/N) would be willing to do this, especially if it meant furthering something she believed in, but I couldn't bear it if she were hurt or killed. I almost lost her once; I can't take that risk knowing this time she might not come back," added the Arc Trooper for once, listening to his heart rather than his head. Finally, he admitted how it felt being parted from Snap for almost a year, how it felt like he had lost her. He'd already mourned what could have been had the war ended differently, mourned the life he could have shared with her. He didn't want to go through the grief of actually losing her, as he had done with so many brothers, as he had done with Fives and Jesse, and so many others.

"Told you," victoriously spoke Gregor. "Old Wolffee isn't gonna be a walk in the park either."  

"And if Snap agrees to the plan?" asked Rex, knowing the opinions of his brothers mattered, but so did (Y/N)'s. What would they do if she agreed to do as Cody suggested? What would any of them do if she willingly joined the Advanced Science Division as a mole? "I know Wolffe would protest, but he'd also do what he could to protect her, even if that meant telling her she's an idiot," added the great Captain, recognizing the danger and Wolffe protesting. After all, protecting Snap was the only duty Wolffe likely felt he had left; there was little doubt the Commander wouldn't be so quick to let it go, especially if he were aware the civvie medic still needed him as much as he needed her. 

"I would reluctantly agree. I know better than to argue back with her," quietly replied Gregor, as if he were a cadet again being scolded on Kamino. After all, he was well aware it was pointless trying to convince Snap not to do something, especially if she'd already made her mind up about it. "I'd do everything in my power to make sure she's as safe as possible and has the support needed to complete her mission." 

"I would say try and convince her otherwise, but I know she's more stubborn than a Rancor at feeding time," commented Echo, knowing his Civvie Medic could be far more determined and stubborn than the best of soldiers. She could be more savvy than the politicians in the Senate if she had to be, and she was as fearless as the Jedi once were. But that didn't mean he wasn't afraid of losing her; they'd both survived one war, but there was no guarantee they would survive another; the Empire was far crueler than both the republic and the separatists combined, cold and ruthless when it came to dealing with their enemies. 

Series Masterlist

#star wars #the bad batch #reader insert #the clone wars #reader interactive #captain rex #star wars fanfiction #arc trooper echo #commander wolffe #captain gregor #clone rebellion #chapter 19 #commander cody #forgive me (echo x medic reader) #medic reader #fem reader #cross posted on quotev #cross posted on ao3 #cross posted on wattpad

[fensherohair]

The Marauders & The Metamorphic Witch Part 9

Words: 1.9k Warning: None although mentions of dating Pronouns: She/Her

Christmas was drawing closer; the many students seemed to be in a constant buzz of excitement. Many spoke about their plans, discussing if they would be going home for the holidays or staying within the walls of the castle. The castle itself had been decorated, and the great hall had several trees around the side, with a larger one behind the professor's area at the back of the hall, especially decorated by the professors. The candles floating in the hall had holly wrapped around the base, with snow falling from the cloud sky, hiding the arched ceiling. Even the grand staircase had been decorated. With tinsel lining the many moving staircases, some with sparkling baubles, too. The pictures had Christmas trees with them or something Christmas-related, and a few even singing Christmas songs. 

Of course, the common rooms hadn't escaped the Christmas makeover. Each had a tree in the corner near the fire. Decorated in the house colors with Hogwarts emblem baubles here and there. Other decorations had also appeared around each common area, seemingly overnight. The first-year students always seemed to be amazed, whereas the older ones grinned at the reminder Christmas was coming. Every now and again, mistletoe would appear in a doorway or above a random area where students gathered. However, the Scottish weather had likely already reminded them the holidays drew closer, with the thick snowfall beginning in November and seeming to be constant. Until the ice and snow created a winter wonderland out of the castle grounds, even the great lake had frozen over. 

"Are any of you staying here for Christmas?" asked Isolde, a soft smile gracing her lips as she remembered her parents informing both her and Allegra they would be staying at the castle this year. Their loving parents had finally got around to going on the romantic getaway they'd always talked about doing. Isolde had accepted it without much fuss, instead looking forward to exploring the castle when it was almost empty and getting to experience something new. Allegra, on the other hand, had written a harsh letter back to their parents, demanding they either change their plans or allow her to go to her favorite aunts for Christmas. Not surprisingly, they had refused, explaining it was too short of notice and the aunt would also be away with her own family. 

"I will be, same with my dear older brother," stated (Y/N), recalling her parents were going to travel the world this Christmas, visiting her uncle in Egypt and Grandpa in America. The plans had been in place for a while now, but the uncle wasn't one who they got to see often, even if he always wrote and sent gifts for special occasions. Plus, it had been some time since their father had seen his own dad and his side of the family. The visit there was long overdue. 

"I'll be going home, much-needed time with my sister Petunia," stated Lily, her bright smile dimming a little as she remembered how their once strong sisterly bond had faded in recent years. To the point that they barely spoke, and Petunia often ignored her. She had her own life now, friends that were normal rather than magical. "I'm hoping to fix our relationship; things haven't been the same since finding out I was a witch," commented the redhead, awkwardly moving her hair and brushing her fingers through it. She looked around the quiet dorm room, to her trunk that was already packed, and the presents sitting on top from three of the girls surrounding her. 

"Family Christmas for me. Three generations in one house," chuckled Marlene, recalling the chaos that happened every year, her brothers always excitable on Christmas morning, ready to rip into the gifts, her grandparents telling stories of the past, her parents, aunt, and uncles casting a few spells to help the day go easier and entertain the younger ones. Despite the screaming, terrible singing, and often embarrassing stories, it still ended up being another perfect Christmas, even if the adults did end up tipsy or outright drunk by the night's end. 

"At least I get rid of most of you and the boys," grumbled Allegra; the tension between the Smith Twins hadn't eased over the past month or so; if anything, it had gotten worse, to the point it was difficult for most to be around and the shared dorm had become almost unbearable. The two barely spoke to each other now and only stayed in the same place when there was no other choice, such as classes and the great hall. They did their best to stay away from each other when in the great hall and traveling between classes. Although Allegra still stayed close to the group, she often made rude comments. She acted as if she was the de facto leader, trying to control what everyone did and often shouting about the mischief and pranks being worthless. 

"Remus mentioned Sirius was staying in the castle this year," voiced Marlene, glancing over to (Y/N) sitting on her bunk holding her penguin plushy, an open box of Berty Bots on the trunk at the end of her bed. "Apparently, he had a falling out with his parents about something, so he chose to stay behind," she added, mindlessly braiding her blonde locks, almost laughing as (Y/N) seemed to miss why Sirius chose to hang around the castle rather than taking James up on his offer to go to the Potter's for the holidays. 

"He's a tosser, but he's somehow adorable at the same time," commented Lily, noticing the way (Y/N) looked around at the mention, still appearing oblivious to what almost everyone could clearly see. "Remus, too, is cute in a nervous way," laughed the auburn-haired girl, Isolde joining in, too. Marlene and (Y/N) looked at each other, the latter's cheeks heating up as if realizing what the girls were referring to, whereas (Y/N) looked on with confusion as if she didn't understand the direction the conversation had turned to. 

"How in the name of magic haven't you noticed?" asked Isolde, directing her question to (Y/N), who looked back with confusion sparkling in her (E/C) eyes. She shook her head as if to indicate she didn't understand the question asked. "Come on, James practically yelled from the astronomy tower weeks ago," she added as Marlene and Lily began to laugh a little more. Isolde tried to find a way to explain it to her clueless friend. 

"Sirius has a crush on you, (Y/N)," giggled Lily, blurting it out to save the awkward sidestepping Isolde was running at. "When James asked if Sirius had asked his girlfriend if she would brew the potion, he was referring to you," admitted Lily, finding the situation cute. How James, as gobby and annoying as he was, tried to help his best friend when it came to his school love life. "As I said, Sirius may be a toss pot, but you two would make a cute, mischievous couple," she added, as (Y/N)'s cheeks heated up at the realization, her eyes wide as she tried to hide behind the penguin plushy she held on to. 

"Hey, if Sirus and (Y/N) are the Cute Mischief Couple, does that make Marlene and Remus the parents of the group?" asked Isolde, turning her attention to Marlene in time to see her hide her burning cheeks behind her hands, before quickly hiding beneath the wooly blanket previously resting across her bed. "At least you two recognize there's something there, and again, you'd make an adorably cute couple," she added as if to soothe the embarrassment a little. Allegra merely rolled her eyes from her bunk, not appreciating the girly talk or the reminder of others having what she wanted. 

"And yet neither of you attended the winter dance together," voiced Allegra, pointing out Remus and Marlene didn't attend the dance together despite both recognizing there was a connection between them. Likewise, Sirius hadn't asked (Y/N) to be his date to the dance despite how obvious his crush on her was and how James and occasionally Remus pushed him to be truthful with himself and (Y/N). 

"I can't walk in a straight line without falling over; how do you suppose I dance without my superpower of clumsiness taking hold?" asked (Y/N), a small smile appearing on her lips as her eyes began to sparkle with mischief again. Lily chuckled again, likely imagining the scenario mentioned or something else had tickled her about the comment. "Not to mention Sirius didn't ask, neither did Remus ask Marlene," she added, pointing out that neither of the boys had gained the courage to ask either of them to attend the winter dance with them. Just as it became clear again, Allegra hadn't paid attention; if she had, then she would have been aware (Y/N) had spent that week in the hospital wing again after being hit by a bludger during Quidditch. Remus had as well due to his condition being particularly difficult that month. 

"Speaking of going on dates on all, Isolde, how was your date?" asked Marlene, turning the attention to Isolde, who looked like a deer caught in the headlights, her eyes wide as she began to pale at the realization she hadn't been as secretive as she thought she had been. Mentally, she questioned if one of them had seen her and her date at the Three Broomsticks or during their wander around the snowy Hogsmeade. 

"At least tell me, my brother dearest was a gentleman," spoke (Y/N), her grin turning gentle as she revealed she was aware of the date; she found it cute, as much as Isolde and the others found her imaginary relationship with Sirius cute. Isolde looked over to (Y/N) with almost horror, as if terrified that she already knew of the months-old relationship. "He told me weeks ago. Said that he didn't want things to be awkward or make the friendship weird," admitted (Y/N), recalling when Hunter had pulled her aside to ask her permission to date Isolde. (Y/N) Being herself, she had asked why he needed permission. Although she did promise she'd kick her brother's ass if he hurt one of her best friends. 

"See, this is why I say you Wolffe siblings are something to admire," laughed Lily, throwing a cushion at Isolde playfully. The brunette girl returned the favor soon after before breaking out in laughter. Marlene and (Y/N) glanced toward each other before hearing someone call their name from the common room. No doubt one of the boys. 

"That will be the boys with the presents," spoke Marlene before getting up to answer the call. A soft smile appeared on her lips as she saw James waiting below, Peter next to him, wondering why he'd been roped into helping with the gift delivery. In the hands of the scrawny boy was the small pile of presents intended for him from each of the girls, each wrapped to the best of the individual's ability. 

"You and Lily joining us on the train home tomorrow?" asked James, raising his voice slightly so Marlene could hear him over the chattering students crowding the common room, all of them getting ready to leave for the holidays. Knowing they had to be ready and at the station by noon the following day. 

"I will be; I'm not sure about Lil. You get Mason, though, and I think Regulus," confirmed Marlene, walking to the small spiraling staircase to join the pair of boys in the common room. She was thankful to be away from Allegra again but dreading returning to the tension-filled room. She didn't want to imagine what would happen over the holiday period, with both Smith Twins being stuck in the castle and still having to share a dorm. However, she had little doubt (Y/N), and Sirius could handle it or remove themself from any situation if needed. 

Series Masterlist

#wizarding world #sirius black #x reader #james potter #metamorphic reader #remus lupin #peter pettigrew #reader insert #sirius black x reader #lily evans #oc characters #female reader #reader interactive #witch reader #marauder era #marauder x reader #marauder fanfiction #wizarding world fanfiction #part 9 #cross posted on quotev #cross posted on wattpad #cross posted on ao3 #happy holidays

[healeroflightanddark]

Yuya's Ticklish Story, Chapter 1: The Calm Before the Storm

Yuya woke up earlier than usual one morning, thanks to Sora jumping on him yelling, “Wake up!”

“Oof!” Yuya gasped. “Sora, what gives?”

“A video of you is going viral on the internet, and I don’t think you’re going to like what video it is!” Sora said.

Yuya saw Yuto’s spirit appear next to him, scowling at Sora. “Whatever it is, I don’t think it means he can jump on you like that! He could have hurt you!”

“It’s fine, Yuto,” Yuya said through their mind link. “He’s not that heavy.”

Yugo appeared next. “What video is it?”

Yuri then appeared with a grin. “Is it an embarrassing one?”

“Um, what video is it?” Yuya asked Sora. In response, Sora showed him the video on his duel disk. It was a few seconds long and showed Yuya in a cart answering a question wrong and getting tickled by a bunch of mechanical hands.

“Oh, that,” Yuya blushed. “I remember that. It was during that quiz show duel I did a while back. I almost forgot about that!”

“Wait…. Yuya, you’re ticklish?” Yuri asked, smirking. “Very interesting.”

“Don’t you dare!” Yuto said, glaring at him. He hovered around Yuya protectively.

“This video is trending on the internet right now!” Sora said. “It’s got over 7 million views already, 5 million likes, and 8 million comments! Look!”

He shoved the duel disk in Yuya’s face, and began scrolling through the comments. Most of them were comments about how cute Yuya’s laugh was, or how cute Yuya was when he was being tickled, and people saying they wanted to tickle Yuya now. (Though, Yuya did notice a comment saying Notice me Yuya-senpai! <3<3<3)

“Oh, um,” Yuya blushed again at all the comments. “Well, this could be a bit of a problem.”

“You think?” Sora said, rolling his eyes. “Half the world wants to tickle you, and I bet people are going to actually try too!”

Yuya shrugged. “It’s fine, I don’t mind.”

Sora stared at him in disbelief. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, if it makes people happy, then I don’t mind if they tickle me! Besides I, um… kinda like being tickled, heh…” Yuya said, blushing and smiling. Yuri grinned and immediately reached for his side, only to be furiously tackled by an overprotective Yuto.

Sora blinked at Yuya’s response. “Well, then, I hope you don’t regret saying that… Because I’m pretty sure you’re going to be eating your words soon.”

#yugioh arc v #yuya sakaki #yuri #yuto #yugo #sora #post canon #cross posted on quotev #cross posted on wattpad #cross posted on fanfiction.net #cross posted on ao3 #cross posted on deviantart

[kitcattales]

Something There - Akaza x Fem! Reader Chapter 3: Deep Within the Cedar Woods

Author's note: I recently updated AO3 and my other cross-posting sites with chapter 5 for the story, so I thought I'd go ahead and post chapter 3 on here in the meantime! c: I hope you guys come to enjoy the rest of the story as it keeps progressing forward! <3 As always, warnings can be found in the first chapter of this series, and if you'd like a more in-depth review of tags/warnings for the fic as a whole, you can check out the story's page on AO3 as well! <3 Thanks for the support and as always, happy reading and God bless! <3

CHAPTER ONE , CHAPTER TWO

Cross-posts: AO3, FFN, Wattpad and Quotev (I am most active on AO3!)

Word count: 13,710

Chapter 3: Deep Within the Cedar Woods

When her eyes closed, she told herself she wouldn’t open them again until she absolutely had to.

The last thing she gazed upon was the image of the irori’s flames brightly and fondly bidding her farewell hazily through the opaque sliding door of Akaza’s cabin. That’s the image she wanted to rest with in her mind while she was held taut to this peculiar demon’s chest, wrapped up in his surprisingly comforting warmth. She assumed it wouldn’t matter whether she paid attention to where they were going or not. He didn’t make her stir nor bothered her to open her eyes, so she took advantage and simply allowed herself to sink into that familiar warmth his body was able to mimic so well.

With her eyes closed, she could tell herself she was somewhere else. She was was wrapped up in the arms of her friends, laughing and smiling to the stories they told on one of their scarce breaks between missions. The scary reality they lived in didn’t exist during times like those. Their world, their lives, their bubbles; all that existed was just good times and cheesy jokes. Smiles were everywhere, bright eyes gazing towards the cloudless sky, fantasizing about what they would all be doing once the world was a place everyone would be safe to live in without fear nor apprehension. What they themselves would be and where they would be in the future didn’t matter. What mattered was that they swore they’d stick together until the end and watch the world they lived in change for the better, hand-in-hand and in each other’s arms.

The light sway she felt as Akaza walked between trees and through the forest reminded her of what it felt like to be rocked back on her heels when one of them would rush to her, arms wide, before jumping at her in a huge hug. The force of the affectionate display would always make her stumble on her feet, nearly fall back on herself as well, but it never failed to get her to beam a smile from ear-to-ear even in the darkest of times – and boy, was a hug like that needed in the aftermath of the scariest of battles. It always helped to remind her that they were still alive. That there was still hope. For that moment in time, the scariest part was over and they could simply admire the oncoming sunrise together as the resilient trio they used to be.

What she wouldn’t give for a hug like that right now.

While Akaza’s warmth came close to their own, the purposefully measured strength in his thoughtful grasp didn’t compare. Sometimes, the way her friends would hug her left her breathless. They would squeeze the air right out of her, but even if it hurt a little sometimes, the loving pressure was something she always craved from them. They’d laugh at her whenever she’d dramatically gasp for breath and whine about their ridiculous strength, but the glint in their eyes would never fail to bring a smile of her own back to her lips.

The light blowing of the breeze brought different scents to her, reminding her of many places the three had been to together on their travels during their work as Demon Slayers. It brought swirling memories to her mind of what the two of them smelled like whenever she nuzzled her head into the crook of their necks, scents she couldn’t properly describe in words, personal to them as people.

The best she could do was describe them as the scents of Botan and Keisuke.

How long will it be before I forget what they smell like? What it felt like to hug and be hugged by them? How long before I forget the sound of their voices? Their laughter? Will the image of them fade away too? Will I forget what their smiles looked like? How bright their eyes would become whenever we were just having fun together? How long will it be before they’re just distant memories and blurry faces tied to stories I’m the only one left to tell?

Her brow furrowed deeply at the thoughts which quickly began to hit her, interrupting her blissful state of pretend. She curled up further in Akaza’s arms, ducking her head closer to his chest to shield her face away from the blowing winds which threatened to take her precious memories away with it.

I don’t want to forget…I can’t let myself forget. Not Botan, not Keisuke…and not Rengoku either…

Yet, how was she supposed to keep going? How was she supposed to muster the strength to survive when it had become unbearable to watch the sunrise alone?

All those happy times, loving embraces and glistening eyes were gone now. She’s the only one left to remember, and that in and of itself is a fate worse than death.

She knew it was the coward’s way out, but…she would’ve given anything to have died hours ago. She was scared when she approached the Upper Three demon – who wouldn’t have been? Not knowing fear when staring into the face of death itself isn’t human. Regardless, the anxiety didn’t matter. She just…wanted things to go black. She had hoped a demon as strong as him – as strong as the man who took Rengoku’s life – would be enough to make her pass like the flickering light of a dying candle. It was her easy way out, her cheat card, but it seems there were different plans prepared for her that she simply wasn’t ready for quite yet.

The threat of tears began to nag at her insistently, but she refused to cave in. She didn’t want to cry in the arms of a demon tonight – especially not this one. She knew it mattered not at this point, but despite her own weaknesses and how much of a traitor she felt she was right now for comingling with the man who killed such a wondrous person, she didn’t want to worsen the situation by letting her most intimate vulnerabilities out to him as well.

Akaza, however, had already noticed something was wrong with her almost as soon as he walked the two of them out of his lonely cabin. He noticed it when she fell into his grip, the feel of her head resting on his bicep calling for his curious attention.

He caught her with her eyes already closed, losing herself into a world of her own. He thought of trying to strike conversation with her on the way to the lake he was taking her to, but in the end, he decided not to disturb her. It didn’t take extensive guesswork to see there was a storm brewing in that human mind of hers, considering everything that had happened up to that point. Perhaps time alone with her thoughts is what she needed for a little while, even if only for a few minutes. So, he opted for silence, and simply observed her on his trek through the massive cedars.

Gradually, the deeper into the forest he walked them, he watched as her expression faltered and grimaced until she eventually nuzzled her face further against his arm to hide. It seemed that whatever she was thinking about, it was causing her a great deal of pain. He felt perplexed by it, that strangely familiar feeling he felt when he was making that medicinal tea for her tugging at his chest once more. It poked and itched at long forgotten parts of his memories in a way he wasn’t quite sure how to describe. He didn’t know whether to be frustrated by the fleeting, hazy feeling or to simply let himself be within it to see where it might lead him.

Although, if he was quite honest with himself, he subconsciously knew he already chose to absently follow the whispering, lost memories.

Something about it felt right despite knowing how absurd all of this technically was.

Guided by the tug at his chest which urged gentleness from his person, he carefully squeezed her in closer. He adjusted his grasp on her enough to bring her head near to his chest for her to better hide herself away. With her eyes closed, he took the chance to make it seem as though the motion was due to a curt step he had to take by a fallen cedar tree. Peering into her face, he could tell she was none the wiser of his intentions.

A small smile took his lips at the sight, and shortly afterwards, a steady breath pushed through his nostrils.

He wished he knew where this side of him was coming from.

These instincts and feelings were his own, but they felt like they belonged to someone else at the same time.

He knew he’d likely never know who he used to be, but the allure of these questionable inclinations continued to hum for him, and he found himself unable to deny their call.

It felt…good, in a way, to take care of someone.

He almost laughed at the thought.

Him? Taking care of someone? A human woman?

It never would’ve crossed his mind, given his solitary lifestyle and peculiar disposition.

Yet, here they are.

Stuck between the cedars together.

~¤ ¤ ¤~

The entire trail he led them upon was walked in silence.

He didn’t want to disturb the woman curled into his chest. From what he could tell, it looked like she settled down comfortably against him after a while, and that illusion of comfort was something he wanted her to maintain. Thus, he simply wandered on paths he knew by heart while keeping his thoughts to himself. He did everything he could to stop from disturbing the bubble she had created around herself.

He was aware she had crafted a fantasy behind her closed lids she preferred in exchange for her current reality. Though he tended to be blunt and brutish in nature, he didn’t want to be the pin which ruptured the world she was creating for herself, so he did everything he could to keep her bubble safe. When walking by the tall cedars, he’d lean her figure away from their reaching branches, keeping her luscious locks and lulled head from their gripping leafy fingers. When hiking over inclines and declines of the low grassy hills, he’d hug her tighter to keep her from feeling the impact of his firm steps too brusquely. Whatever he could do, he would do. His reasonings were far from reach, but the instinct was so natural within him, he decided to follow its current and search for answers at a later point in time.

Though the dense woods were full of many lesser demons of different shapes and sizes, the areas in which the Upper Moon roamed were devoid of all demon presences aside from his own. It was as though the sun had breached through the dense cedar canopies bordering his paths and the tall trees gave way for its brilliant light, ridding the land of the hellish beings of the woods. In turn, the faithful cedar canopies rolled out a darkened carpet of shadows for himself to walk the human woman upon, safe from the light of day. He was a proud man, proud of his prowess and might, and knowing his mere presence caused the others to cower away from him as if he were the sun itself always allowed him to step through the cedars not only with confidence, but with pride for his status upon his darkened carpet.

Eventually, that long carpet gave way to the lake’s clearing, the overarching cedars spreading around the perimeter almost obediently to his very existence.

The lake itself wasn’t enormous in size, but it certainly wasn’t small either. It formed a rare large nook within the dense forest which gave way to the light of the moon outside of the grasp of the suffocating canopies surrounding it. All around its edges, those tall cedars overlooked the body of water, forming what felt like an impenetrable wall to guard the luminous lake and its inhabitants within. If a passerby were innocently unaware of the reality hidden beneath the deceitful canopies, they would fall into a false sense of security in a sublime place like this. They would feel protected from the perils of the outside world, all the while completely unaware of what truly lay waiting between bark and leaves. With Akaza there, however, the security was anything but false. They may as well be the only two living beings in that forest as long as he was there with her. The moon was a welcomed alliance of light while he was by her side, but had it been just her, its inviting light would quickly turn into her biggest foe.

He stared down at her intently as he came to stand by the water’s edge, the thought poking at that curiosity in his mind once more for what felt like the umpteenth time this evening.

Multiple times tonight, he had asked himself what would’ve happened to her had their paths not crossed.

If she had run into anyone else other than him tonight, she would’ve died long before she would’ve reached the lake. She never would’ve gotten to see the way the moon’s reflection shimmered on the surface of the lake’s still waters. She never would’ve gotten to feel the gentle laps of those waters on her skin nor the smell of its pristine existence. In fact, if she even did manage to make it to the lake, she would’ve just been cause for its clear waters to be stained crimson and for its once untouched surface to be riddled in chaotic ripples and waves before the world plunged into natural silence once more.

His temper bubbled as the thought came to him.

He had always been the type who dons a short fuse. Easy to anger, Akaza seldom kept his rage to himself when someone provoked him – something others (such as the second Upper Moon) were all too familiar with.

Still, it had been a long time since he last felt rage on behalf of someone else.

It wasn’t as though he knew this woman in his arms nor as if anything connected the two of them. Her existence would’ve continued unknown to him and unimportant had they not met on this mundane evening, but for some reason or another, fate had intertwined their paths and tangled loose ends together. A jumbled knot formed between the two of them with those loose, wandering threads, and now, he felt rage on her behalf.

The intense emotion made him want to grip at his hair and shake his head as vigorously as he could. He was frustrated with himself and the confusion she forced into his stable lifestyle in the matter of a couple of hours, but despite it all, he still refused to react so callously. Rather, he harbored it within himself as he had done all evening, refusing to stir her with such gravity and lack of respect. Still, that rage he felt towards all of those what ifs she could’ve run into had it not been for the way they met left him with a tight, uncomfortable feeling both in the pit of his stomach and deep within his chest – a pressure of anger he didn’t even need to remember to know he dealt with ever since he was human all those centuries ago.

Calmly, he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath through his nose before allowing his head to fall back on his shoulders. His posture slowly relaxed as he stood there listening to the sounds of nature. Cicadas buzzed and cricked in the distance, a familiar chorus people either enjoyed or absolutely detested. Thankfully for him, he found their chorus to be soothing in its own right. Along with the cicadas, cedar leaves would flutter and crinkle with the occasional wind or the movement of the small woodland animals living upon their branches. When the wind would gently blow and coo, the reeds by the lake would gracefully sway and bend like a wave on the edge of the water, joining the natural ambiance.

A few moments of losing himself in the nature around him helped him to regain his composure, willing the sudden, puzzling anger to fade.

His golden eyes finally opened, his lashes of sunset pink lightly grazing over his inked brow. His numbered gaze set upward towards the moon, and there he remained a few moments longer to stare at its unobstructed appearance.

The moon was full and almost appeared engorged in the sky. It stood out prominently with its ethereal, soft white glow, but it never outshone any of the stars which gathered around it. The evening was cloudless, and thus their stage was clear for all of them to shine together.

It felt like it had been decades since he last took a chance to just stare up at the sky and watch what was happening beyond the clouds. It was such a mundane activity, something he knew humans tended to love doing, but the longer he stared at the cloudless evening sky, the more out of place he felt. Finding the feeling both unnecessary and uncomfortable, he promptly turned his gaze back to the human in his arms. A part of him expected her to be looking back at him when he did, but no, she was still huddled close to his chest and hugging the basin he gave her tight to herself.

A small frown angled his lips at the sight of her. He had hoped she would’ve popped her own bubble after he stopped moving for a while, but it appeared that she was determined to stay in her own space for as long as she could. He tutted, glancing towards the water’s edge as his tongue clicked against the roof of his mouth.

He supposed he would have to be the pin to pop her bubble after all.

Forward the demon began to walk once more, his footsteps relaxed and light. He trekked along the dirt trail naturally formed by the weeds beside the water, kicking stones as he went, until he eventually came upon the lake’s bank where he had cleaned himself up earlier during his first solitary trip over. Rather than stepping straight into the water this time, he carefully kneeled himself on the dirt, crossing his legs beneath himself to sit down only when he was certain he wouldn’t jerk nor haphazardly sway the woman in his arms with his movements. Though he found himself comfortable seated on the lake’s bank, he kept the woman in his arms elevated in the air, hesitant on how he should proceed. By instinct, he almost brought her to lay upon his lap, but he stopped himself midway before he did, uncertain whether that was truly the best way to go about this.

He looked to her unchanged, troubled expression in hopes of finding the answer there, but she left him feeling as profusely confused as he did so himself. Huffing lightly to himself in slight frustration, he decided while staring at her in her bubble to simply do what felt right. One way or another, now that he chose to walk this path with her, he had to wake her from whatever dream or fantasy she was having. Thus, he finally settled her down on his lap, making sure she was securely resting against him.

His brow furrowed deeply as he placed her weight upon himself. The actual weight she had didn’t make much of a difference to him with his unnatural strength, but there was definitely something strange about the way it felt to have her laying atop of him as opposed to him carrying her around. The weighted warmth her feminine figure brought him in that moment was practically something alien to him. Rather than it being a deliberate action on his part of holding her to himself to move her around with him, her warmth flooded his senses all from her own accord as she slumped comfortably into his muscular frame.

For centuries, he had lived a mostly solitary lifestyle. Companionship was never something he held in high esteem nor did it ever hold much importance to him as a demon, and yet, thanks to her, his mind stirred with distant, faint nostalgia once more.

How many centuries has it been since he last felt the touch of another on his person? The warmth of another soothing his roughened skin? Did he have loved ones when he was human that he was able to hug and hold? Did they feel just as warm as she did? Did their weight on him make him feel as strangely as hers did? Did they fit as perfectly in his arms and upon his lap as she did? Did he know a woman like her back then? Did he have a woman to call his own when he led a normal human life? Did he stir or was he ever taken aback the way he was right now? Did he like it? Was companionship like that something he sought out like the necessity it is to most humans?

He can’t even remember when the last time was that he had spent a few moments with someone he enjoyed the company of, so that sudden flood of questions was something that caught him completely off guard.

The onslaught of it all which began to flood his mind felt overwhelming to him. It was as if he had lost his identity, as if he had gotten some extreme case of amnesia and was only left with very shattered, very small bits and pieces of the person he used to be. He supposed, in a way, that’s exactly what was going on with him, but he had never cared about that sort of thing before. Sure, on rare occasions he would feel the whisp of a long-lost memory in the back of his mind, but that seldom ever occurred, and when it did, he’d dismiss it entirely after considering it only for a moment’s breath. Tonight, however, the vague memories of someone he no longer knew felt more constant, and all he could amount them up to was the fact that she continued triggering them without even trying.

Always mindful of his strength with her, he gently slipped his hand out from beneath her knees and brought it up to rub at his face, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers. Everything about mingling with the human woman felt confusing, but so familiar and oddly comforting. He swore her very essence tried to beckon memories of his human life forward with honeyed words and soft humming, but none of it was strong enough to muster an image in his mind’s eye. She confused and shook his stability to his very core, and he didn’t even know her name nor where she came from.

Breathing in deep, he let out a soft sigh and pulled his hand away from his face, deciding the mystery of his past was one he’d rather leave where it was for the time being. For now, he simply shifted his gaze back down towards the woman’s undisturbed figure to continue following the mystery of her instead.

“We’re here.” He finally spoke, his voice rough and low.

Deep within her fantasies, she could hear his voice calling for her. Despite how hard she tried to envision herself in a different place and a different time in the arms of the past, there was nothing in this world that could definitively rip her away from her true reality the way she so wanted.

_______ didn’t want to open her eyes. With her eyes closed, she could continue to dream and lie to herself. She could continue to be with the people she loved, could continue to feel their embraces and hear their sweet voices. If she opened her eyes, all of that would go away. The whole point of her coming here tonight was for all of this to be over, for her to fall and slip away from this world she felt she didn’t belong in anymore. Why is she still here? Why is she still breathing? Why can’t she just slip into her dreams and never wake up again?

She didn’t want to.

She didn’t want to open her eyes to the same old world she tried to leave behind.

So, she didn’t.

Rather than respond to the demon’s remark, she curled tighter into herself and hugged the wooden basin in her arms closer to her chest. As long as she didn’t open her eyes, she didn’t have to face any of it. She didn’t have to face the world again, didn’t have to face the truths, didn’t have to face the pain.

“Mm. You’re gonna pretend like ya don’t hear me, huh?”

His voice was so strong. So deep, reverberating and strong. She could hear him, loud and clear, like running water in a river. The rapids of his voice threatened to submerge and drown the fantasies she tried so hard to stay within, so she clung to the daydreams with all her might despite knowing the battle was already lost.

“Come on,” He urged lowly, tenderly reaching down to stroke locks of hair away from her face so he could see her better. “I know you’re tired and rest would be the best for you right now, but we can take care of that when we get back to the cabin. The faster we wash you up, the faster you can close your eyes again.”

Her brows knitted together tightly and a deep frown took her lips in response to his rough fingers brushing through her hair and along the surface of her skin. It didn’t matter how hard she tried to fight against the current, she knew this. His voice, the feel of his touch, the smell of the dried blood on her person; it all forced wave after wave on her, the violent waters grabbing onto her arms and clothes, dragging her away from the life she knew no longer existed.

The peace in her mind of being lovingly held in the arms of the people she longed for most was fading away. The images of their smiling faces blurred, the sound of their voices became static, and all she was left with was an empty, dark room she stood in all by herself with the echo of the demon’s voice ringing within. It felt like a room she was far too familiar with, vast but suffocatingly small all at the same time. His voice was incredibly loud within its boundless walls no matter how tender he feigned to be.

It felt like she couldn’t breathe when she was stuck in that room, and so at long last, she was forced to open her eyes to the real world again.

Slowly, she lifted her head and allowed for her eyes to scan over her surroundings. She took note of the secluded lake, the still waters it harbored, the way the tall cedars bowed their heads of bushy leaves to the clearing and the gracefully waving reeds by the water’s edge. She blinked her eyes hazily and squeezed the basin in her arms to herself, unwillingly recalling why it was he had brought her here to begin with.

When her sights returned to the two of them, she realized he had her draped over his lap, snuggled close to his frame. It was certainly an odd position she never thought she’d find herself in tonight, but the warmth he gave off was something she didn’t want to reject. She knew she should’ve jumped out of his grasp as soon as she came to, but nothing within her willed her to do as such. There was something about his warmth that helped numb the excruciating ache of how lonely and worthless she felt, and selfishly, she wanted to stay within it a while longer.

At the thought, she turned her gaze upwards and met his unnatural sight. His eyes peered strikingly into her own, large and spectacular in their deceiving colors, and almost as if he had read her mind, they turned to crescents in response to her hazed, inquisitive expression.

“I take it you managed to get some kind of sleep in ya during our trip.”

Sleep…Ah, yes…It was all just dreams at the end of the day.

“Yeah, I guess I did…” She muttered, her voice barely more than a weak croak. “Where did you bring us to…?”

“I brought you over to the lake I’m familiar with so we can get you washed up. I’m sure getting clean with some nice, cool water will help make you feel better.”

Groggy from her somber slumber, the demon’s words only resulted in furthering the stupor upon her. She swore she sometimes forgot she was speaking to one of Muzan’s Upper Moons whenever he talked to her. In place of rage, anger, hate, sadism and violence she expected to receive from him tonight, he instead received her with care, tenderness, gentility, concern and attention. She still didn’t know how she was supposed to feel about any of it nor how she was meant to react, but for all it was worth, she didn’t quite care anymore. To her, her life was nearing its end. She didn’t see very many tomorrows left for her in the great horizon despite the failure of her initial plan for the evening. Perhaps having this strangely comforting demon accompanying her on one of her last nights will help make letting go easier when the time did ultimately come.

“Right…” She eventually nodded. “Washing up would be nice…”

“Alright, let’s get you cleaned up then.” He hummed, taking the basin from her hold with his free hand and setting it down beside the two of them for the time being.

He felt her fall into his chest again when he freed her arms of the basin, and it was cause for him to pause for just a time. He watched as she laid her head against his chest, her hair lightly tickling his bare skin with the way it splayed and rubbed against him. The stare she gave into the distant cedars was long and vacant, as if she were still lost in her own world despite him having pulled her out of it.

After a second or two, he took the towel from the basin and draped it over his shoulder before hooking his arm beneath her knees again. When she was secure in his grip, he stood to his feet and began to walk them forward. He only needed to move them towards the still water so he could sit her down right by the shore. When his bare feet stepped into the crystalline shallows, he kneeled down and allowed her legs to rest in the waters, their submersion causing ripples to distort the lake’s surface for as far as the eye could see.

_______ watched her legs dip beneath the waves. The crystal-clear waters aided by the shimmering light of the moon granted her the perfect view of them beneath the surface. When her eyes trailed up the length of them, she took notice for the first time that evening that he had removed her boots and socks. When he had done that, she wasn’t sure, but she didn’t mind. The water itself was, indeed, cool and refreshing to the touch, not cold nor hot. The lake bed was host to many different aquatic plants, but the only ones which grazed her calves were like the blades of grass overlooking the hills of the woods. The sand she sat upon was soft and inviting, offering no sense of discomfort, and a harboring of the warmth the bank must’ve gathered during the light of day. 

“Are you comfortable here?” She heard him ask her from behind as he reached back for the basin.

“Yes…this is fine.”

She didn’t need the basin. Instead, she cupped her palms together and dipped her hands in the still waters, watching as it seeped in through the spaces between her fingers. Like this, she brought the water to her face and began to scrub the dried blood off of her cheeks with the pads of her fingers and the heels of her hands. When the blood began to streak down her skin, as if revived from the dead, she grimaced heavily. The repugnant scent of iron overtook her senses all over again as drops of crimson lake water dripped over her uniform.

She was desperate to get the blood off of her, to mute the scent of iron from herself once and for all. Quickly, she continued to fill her palms with water over and over again, scrubbing at the skin of her cheeks as hard as she could, until they felt raw and sensitive.

Akaza simply watched her as she took care of herself, having taken a seat by her left in front of the lake’s edge. Upon his lap was the wooden basin, the towel still sitting draped over his shoulder. Patiently, he waited for her to finish cleaning her face, his gaze soaking in the image of her desperation to rid herself of the crimson staining her pure flesh. He watched the reddened drops of lake water slide down the edges of her jaw, some even clinging to the skin of her lips and the tip of her nose. Several of the drops gathered along the edges of her brows, but she was always quick to wipe all of them away. It didn’t take long for her to clean herself of the blood, but she kept going a couple more times, and he waited patiently for her through it all.

Eventually, her hands simply rested on her laps, her eyes fixed on the rippling waters before her. His golden gaze followed her own, and gradually, they both watched their reflections appear on the lake’s surface once the waters calmed. From the surface, he watched an anguished scowl morph her expression as her reflection stared back at her, and like that, she turned her sights away from the water entirely.

He observed her for a little while longer on the lake’s surface in silence. Only the sounds of nature and their quiet breathing intermingled between the two of them. She had turned her face away from him, avoiding his eye. It drew his curiosity, but he also knew to respect the space she wanted around herself.   

After a while, he lifted his sight from the lake’s waters and faced the back of her head. His eyes scanned over her luscious locks in the silence until a small smile came to him.

“Why don’t you let me wash your hair for you?” He offered. “It’ll help you relax. Maybe it’ll take any headache you might have away too.”

_______ didn’t respond with words this time. It took her a moment to consider, but she did ultimately nod her head at him as her answer, deciding not to question it for now.

His gaze softened at that.

Subconsciously led by the nostalgia of his memories, he gripped the basin by its rim and turned to dip it into the lake, scooping it nearly to the brim with water. From there, he first moved himself to sit behind her away from the shore so he could face the back of her head and she could watch the lake’s waters in her own space more comfortably. Once he found himself content seated behind her, he firmly placed the basin into the sand beside himself, shifting it from side to side until its bottom was buried in the bank. Once he was sure it was secure, he faced the back of her again and watched as she lifted her head to make it easier for him to work with her hair.

He didn’t want to wet the back of her clothes, though. She was already so weakened from whatever hell she went through that drove her into his arms; he didn’t want to try their luck by making her spend the evening in soaked clothing. So, he took the towel draped on his shoulder and unfolded it on his lap. With his large, ink-dipped hand, he carefully scooped her luscious locks from the base of her neck and lifted. Then, he used his other hand to drape the towel over her shoulders before allowing her hair to fall back to where it naturally would.

When he was sure she was properly covered, he finally began to scoop water into his cupped palms from the basin and brought his hands to the very top of the back of her head. From there, he steadily allowed the water to cascade upon her locks. Back and forth, he repeated the process, allowing the water to rain and drip over different areas of her hair until it was completely soaked. Obviously, they had no shampoos, conditioners nor soaps with them for this trip, but that was fine. In place of washing her hair with flowery aromas, he instead leisurely and gently ran his fingers through it, soothingly combing through her mighty waves and currents as if it were second nature to him.

_______ couldn’t remember the last time somebody had washed her hair for her. She reckoned it was likely all the way back when she was a child and her mother still bathed her. Those days felt so far away now; she could hardly remember what it felt like. Yet, having this strange demon’s fingers running through her wet locks, softly detangling and gliding through in relaxing repetition, soothed her in place. The previous anxiety she felt over the blood on her face was being washed away from her. She felt herself sink into the sands beneath her and her gaze lifted towards the distant shores of the lake without much focus. Her mind was filled with vacant, hazy static and didn’t feel present in the moment at all, but oh, how well those fingers of his knew to glide.

Staring out at the water in the midst of it all, she finally seemed to genuinely notice the still reflection of the sky on the surface of the lake. When there were no ripples nor movement, the water mirrored the image of the moon and stars above perfectly to the last detail. She hadn’t paid much attention during her trek into the forest earlier, but there was a full moon tonight, large and bulbous, and the sky was chock-full of stars. A deep sadness befell her as she looked over the picturesque scene.

“Has the moon looked like that all night…?”

Her voice called for his attention, and he hummed in response to her, his gaze lifting towards the sky.

“Yeah, I guess it has. It’s full tonight.”

“It looks so…lonely.”

“Lonely?” He echoed. “What do you mean? It’s just a big ole rock in the sky; it can’t be lonely. Besides, it’s not the only thing up there – it’s surrounded by tons of stars, ya see?”

She shook her head, her eyes lidding solemnly at the moon’s reflection on the water.

“No, don’t you see? No matter how many stars gather around it, no matter how many comets or shooting stars or anything in between, it’s still all alone up there. While the stars all shine beautifully with their very own lights, all the moon can do is steal its light from the sun on the other side of the world. The moon is just as you say: a big ole rock in the sky – but that doesn’t make it any less alone up there, surrounded by so many others it can never compare itself to…”

Akaza contemplated her words with a soft hum, his eyes caught up in the sky for a few moments before a little chuckle left his lips.

“You humans sure like your poetics and romanticism.” He murmured. “I guess I don’t really see it that way.”

“Why? What makes you see it differently?”

“Well…” He paused, gathering his thoughts as he reflexively ran his fingers through her now detangled, silky hair over and over. “I’m not sure, now that you ask. I’ve been alive for so many years, it almost feels like the moon is just as much a constant as I am. The stars come and go, they flicker and fade out, but the moon is always there, going through its phases and changing on its own timing. I also wouldn’t say it just steals its light from the sun. After all, the sun would kill me, but the moon almost seems to cover for me and my kind. I think that makes them plenty different and unique in their own rights. Can you imagine how many eyes have looked up at it by now? Demon and human alike? Nobody can stare straight at the sun itself, but everyone can look up at the moon for as long as they want, whenever they want. If it could feel anything, I doubt it’s loneliness.” Shortly after he finished his thought, he laughed lightly to himself and smiled in amusement. “Well, damn, would ya listen to me go? Maybe I still got some of those poetics in me somewhere too.”

_______ silently mulled over the demon’s words as her vacant stare hazily scanned the surface of the moon’s reflection. Their viewpoints differed significantly, and she wasn’t quite sure what to make of his interpretation. All she felt in that moment was the loneliness of the moon’s reflection, and no matter how hard she stared, she could never see beyond that.

“You killed my mentor, Akaza.”

His hand stopped mid stroke; fingers caught in waves of (hair color). Her sudden, blunt remark rang in his head, echoing over, but it took him a couple of seconds to really register what her words meant. When it finally sunk in, he lowered his gaze from the sky and faced the back of her head. Curtly, his smile fell and was replaced by a serous, unreadable look.

So, there it is.

She hadn’t moved. Her gaze remained on the moon’s reflection on the lake, though she wasn’t really focusing on anything in particular anymore. Lost in her mind, lost in the world of painful realities and the vivid memories she would never feel again, she spoke by instinct. She spoke because there was no more room left in her head for the words to bury themselves in silence and fake ‘I’m okay’s.

“I see…” He muttered softly. “Who was your mentor?”

“Rengoku.” She didn’t skip a beat. “Rengoku Kyojuro. You killed him the night the Mugen Train was attacked by another demon.”

“Kyojuro.” He echoed the name, instantly remembering the man she referred to. Akaza never forgot a worthy opponent, and Kyojuro had definitely been one of them. Little did he know, however, that he would hear the name again after the night of his defeat.

“You killed him.” She repeated. “You killed him and took him away from me, away from all of us. He gave everything in him to protect the passengers of the train until dawn, and like it didn’t mean anything at all, you took his life for it.”

He remained silent for a while, staring at the back of her head in thought of how he should formulate a response. If she had been a man, he wouldn’t have cared for this conversation nor his reality of it. He’d say bluntly and proudly that he did, indeed, strike the Hashira down by his own hand. He’d declare the Hashira’s last moments a foolish waste of potential and power due to his blatantly stupid denial of the offer to be turned into a demon. He would’ve gone beyond his human limitations and become stronger than he could’ve ever imagined, but his humanity was a drawback and a fault up to his very end. If she were a man, he’d have no mercy with his words and say it as he saw it to be – but obviously, she wasn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to speak to her the same way he would’ve a man.

“Kyojuro was a very talented fighter,” He began, his tone leveled and respectful to match his measured words. “He was a worthy opponent, and a man with an insurmountable spirit and fierce determination. The passion he had within him to defend those weaker than himself was admirable, as was his unmovable will and beliefs. From one fighter to another, he died an honorable death.”  

He didn’t say more beyond that. He didn’t apologize for the act, because not only would it be an empty gesture, but it would be a backhanded one at that. Apologies, no matter how sincere or insincere, mean nothing when someone is dead and gone. Death meant very little to him, but to humans, he knew it was an agonizing goodbye no one was ever ready for. He knew there was nothing he could say to make it any better, and he didn’t intend to try to soothe the pain nor to comfort it away with false words and empty apologies he didn’t mean. His hands were forever stained crimson with the man’s blood, and that wasn’t something anyone could change anymore.

_______’s eyes began to water with each word uttered from the demon’s lips. More and more, her expression scrunched up in pain as fat, wet tears quickly began to trail down the same old paths on her cheeks. Before she knew it, she began to tremble on the spot, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop the shakes which selfishly quaked her frail form. The trembles forced her shoulders to stiffen up in a false attempt at control, but she knew she had lost all sense of the word long ago. Downcast, her head lowered in shame and distraught while her hands curled into painfully tight fists upon her laps in the shallow, cool water.

His words, so thoughtfully interlaced with considerate respect, strummed at olden, rusted strings deep within her caged frame, forcing them to life. It hurt. It hurt in ways she didn’t know they could when they sang and vibrated within her very being. She wanted it to stop as soon as it started, but there was nothing that could stop it now.  

She felt so disgusted with herself.

She felt like a complete hypocrite.

She should hate him. She should absolutely deplore him. She should want to behead him with every single ounce of her being. She should want to wipe the earth clean of his existence. She should want all of these things – but she didn’t.

She didn’t hate him.

She couldn’t bring herself to.

Rengoku gave his life for what he believed in. He gave everything up to defend and protect those weaker than himself. His entire life, he dedicated his everything to help everyone he could, and for some reason, she was part of that group in his eyes as well.

She knew he had no regrets when he died.

He gave his life for what he lived it for, and he passed away in peace knowing he was victorious in his selfless goals up to the very end.

Hating Akaza would take away from Rengoku’s legacy. It would be as if there were pity in his death. It would diminish the work he gave his life for, the lives he fought so hard to save, the young Slayers he inspired and watched grow before his very eyes, destined to become the future.  

She should absolutely abhor Akaza, but she didn’t.

She couldn’t even if she tried.

All she felt was a massive, cold emptiness within her that Rengoku’s magnificently bright, fierce and warm presence left behind.

All she felt was a consuming, drowning grief she didn’t know how to cope with nor escape from. It followed her every day of her life, leeching off of her, attached to her shoulders by flesh and bone. It was a part of her and she a part of it.

“H-how am I supposed to move on…?” She wept out to the demon behind her. “He was s-such an amazing person…You know, he used to have s-so much faith in me and who he thought I would become…Hah,” She laughed bitterly. Wetly. “I wonder i-if he’s still looking at me with those same proud eyes from Heaven…D-does he still have that same faith in me? I-isn’t he ashamed of how far I’ve fallen? I’ll n-never be able to amount to what he saw in me, s-so does that leave him feeling disappointed? A-am I saddening him with my inadequacies while he’s supposed to finally be at peace after h-how hard he fought his entire short life?”

Her hands shot up and hid her face behind her palms as those rusted strings strummed with forlorn passion. She gripped to her forehead and cheeks by the pads of her fingers and out she sobbed without restraint into her open hands. Her mouth fell agape as smothering cries left her broken, trembling figure. The heels of her bare feet dug into the sand of the lake’s bed, kicking and pushing before bending her legs closer to her body in an attempt at a false sense of security, but no such feeling ever came to her. The pain within her only grew and grew with each second which tick, tick, ticked. It became unbearable, forcing her to twist and turn in an attempt of spreading that hurt to other areas outside of her shuddering chest, but it remained dormant, locked behind her ribs.

“He was m-my teacher and a very good friend, and just like that, he’s gone…! Kyojuro is dead, but I’m still alive! What am I supposed to do with this breath in my lungs?! H-how am I supposed to keep going!? How?!” Her cries grew louder, carried by the wind through the cedars who bowed and swayed in somber grievances along with her.

“Why am I still alive?! Why do I get to keep living wh-when people like Kyojuro die from one day to the next?! W-why am I allowed to keep living while I watch person after person fall and die around me?! People who deserved so much more to have a million tomorrows instead of someone as useless as me! What am I supposed to do?! Where do I go from here a-and how am I supposed to keep living a life I never deserved?! Akaza!”

She pried her hands away from her face and abruptly turned to face the demon behind her. Her puffy, tear-filled eyes met with his sunset hues, and in them, she didn’t know what she saw. Whether it was pity or sympathy was beyond her, but there was definitely something there that she didn’t expect to find in the eyes of her mentor’s killer. There was a kindness within his unnaturally numbered gaze that confused her beyond all understanding. She knew everything about him was wrong and terrible and awful, she knew she should curse him to the furthest abyss she could think of along with the rest of his kind, but everything in his eyes called for her to come in for comfort. For reassurance. For warmth and care.

She hated herself beyond all definitions of the word for the sense of safety that took her when she looked into those peculiar and confusing sunset hues.

“How do I cope?! What am I supposed to do with this breath in my lungs?! P-please, tell me something! G-give me some guidance, tell me how to s-start, tell me what to do, j-just tell me…!” She choked on a heart-wrenching cry of immense pain, one of her hands gripping tightly at her chest in a desperate attempt to find stable ground. “T-tell me how to make it stop…! Tell me how to make it stop hurting so damn much! I-I can’t take it…!”

At that last, pain-stricken plead, Akaza reached forward and pulled the human woman tightly into his embrace. Strongly, his arms wrapped around her unsteady, quivering frame, one of his hands cupping the back of her head to guide her to the hiding place against the crook of his neck. His ink-dipped fingers dug into her soaked locks, firmly keeping her in place to prevent her from stubbornly struggling against him. In place of the struggle he anticipated, however, he instantly felt her sink in and latch onto him when he gave her the opportunity to. Her arms hugged around his torso as tight as her feeble state allowed once she collapsed against him. Her hands desperately clawed and grabbed at his back until she managed to gain an iron-grip on the loose cloth of his haori, and when they did, she clung to the foreign fabric for dear life. Against the crook of his neck, she wept inconsolable wails and sobs of a pain he once thought he didn’t know, but something about the way she cried to him and the way she clung to him with such hopeless devastation stirred bygone emotions deep within him he never knew existed.

All he could attach them to was a familiar sense of grief, lost to space and time.

So, he said nothing. Nothing he could say would make the pain go away. Nothing he could say would change things.

He didn’t have the answers she was looking for, but at least he could hold her for the night. He could hold her through the weeping, could gather up her feminine figure back upon his lap and rock her while he offered her a secret place to let those buried, bitter tears go beneath the glow of the moon and the watch of the stars. At least for tonight, he could be an odd place of refuge for her to cry, a place to let out everything she’s bottled.

Distantly, his sights fell beyond the far end of the lake and passed the mourning cedars. His mind was both cacophonously loud and drowned in quiet.

He wasn’t built for moments like these.

He didn’t exist for people like her.

Yet, there they were.

Through the course of the night, his lost memories bombarded him with a barrage of questions, but as his protective embrace tightened around the human Slayer, he came to the understanding that there would be no answers for either of them tonight – and that’s okay.

He’s lived this long without knowing anything about his past; he could survive centuries more without it.

Her life, however, was a blink of the eye in comparison to his own.

Humans were so fragile and short-lived, like the tail of a comet luckily caught in the night sky.

He couldn’t imagine an entire lifetime spent dwelling on the past and those lost to time. It was illogical to him. Yet, seated there with her on his lap, he felt her wave of grief crash upon him like the rapids of a raging river, and he knew not how he should respond.

His hands were stained red, and seldom did he ever care, but something about this instance moved him.

He could say nothing.

All he could do was pay witness to her heartbreak and devastation alongside the cedars and reeds whom grieved with them. All he could offer her was his embrace and himself as her hiding place and safe haven. Though she sought him for an end to her life, he chose to offer her a space within the cedar woods to properly mourn in secret instead – and so she did.

Deep within the cedar woods, by the lake once untouched by human and demon kind, she mourned in his blood-stained arms.

It felt like they were in that position for hours. The moon gradually descended in the sky as he held her in the clearing, and with each inch it fell, he noticed her cries grew quieter. Eventually, when the moon was just above the canopies, silence enveloped the world once more.

His shoulder felt wet, soaked by her tears, but she no longer shook nor cried. He could feel her warm breath against his neck, and the grip of her hands on him remained strong, but at long last, she had relaxed. He peered softly upon her expression, careful not to disturb her, and noticed she seemed to have exhausted herself of the little energy she had left. There on his shoulder, she had fallen asleep, her face riddled with tears where there once was blood.

He held her protectively in his arms for a while longer within the clearing, watching over her, curiously examining her face of exhausted slumber. Once he was confident she wouldn’t stir for a long time, he gently began to stroke her hair with the hand he used to cup the back of her head. Tenderly – almost affectionately – he pet her as she slept, lost on the idea of how someone like her managed to find someone like him on a night like tonight.

He supposed it didn’t matter.

It simply was.

He sighed softly at the thought, and at last, stood to his feet. Cradling her close to his chest and keeping her head comfortably on his shoulder, he walked them into the dark embrace of the cedar woods once more.

~¤ ¤ ¤~

When _______ next opened her eyes, another unfamiliar ceiling stared down at her.

The grains in its wooden boards greeted her with their deep mahogany colors accented by the sweet light of day. Where the sunshine seeped through, she wasn’t quite sure yet, but it was definitely there. Not only could she see it blanketing the natural wooden boards above her in a beautiful golden glow, she also felt its warmth welcomingly embracing her person. It nearly felt like the sun itself was fondly cupping her cheek within its hand, rubbing at her sensitive skin with tender digits.

Slowly, groggily, she blinked her eyes and grimaced lightly. They ached quite a bit. Had they ached that much when she last fell asleep? She couldn’t remember. What happened before she fell asleep? The question encouraged her to look around, expecting to see the small cabin belonging to the demon in the woods, but rather, she was in a different room than the one she remembered.

This room was more spacious and more homely decorated than what she could remember of Akaza’s cabin. She was laying on a mattress propped on a wooden bedframe, its sheets a simple white color. The screen walls which encompassed the room were an aging eggshell white, outlined with supportive dark wooden beams and decorated with a couple of hand-painted illustrations of different scenes in nature. By the right of her bedside, there was a table, and on it, a porcelain vase filled with flowers. She didn’t recognize what kind of flowers they were, but their blooms were beautifully round and pale pink – a lovely accent. To the left of her bedside was a window, its panes closed to keep the breeze out, but its forest green curtains were spread wide open to allow sunlight to warm the room within. The warm lighting drastically differed from the dark she recalled of the demon’s lonely little home, self-imposed by the boards he nailed up to keep the sun from touching his skin.

In contrast, she could see the sky from where she lay. It was bright blue, and a few white, puffy clouds lazily drifted by. A couple of birds flew passed her view as well, their chirping a lovely sound she felt she hadn’t heard in a long time. The difference between then and now was astronomical, and that fact caused her to wonder.

Tiredly, she sat herself up in bed and continued to stare into the great beyond of the boundless, bright blue sky as she attempted to recall the happenings of the night prior.

Last she remembered, she was talking to Akaza about Rengoku and his passing. She could remember crying to him about things she hadn’t spoken about aloud to anyone before. She could remember him pulling her securely into his strong hold as she broke down in front of him…He wasn’t crude nor cruel nor thoughtless concerning what she wept to him about. Despite being the cause of all that anguish, he treated her with compassion and care. He held her like he understood her, like he would never let her go until he was sure the pain dulled itself out.

If all of that really happened, then where was she now? They were by the lake deep within the cedar woods when he held her. Now, judging by the sound of casual chatter outside and the sunshine proudly beaming through the window, she could only guess she was back in the small village she was stationed to protect. Akaza couldn’t be anywhere near here, otherwise the pandemonium would be as plain as the day was bright.

Nevertheless, she knew last night wasn’t just a dream. She knew it wasn’t, because she could remember everything to the very last detail as well as her reasonings for seeking him out to begin with.

She could remember the strength she felt emanate from his being perfectly. No matter how hard she tried not to focus on that, he was a being whose mere presence demanded the attention of those around him due to his unnaturally intense prowess. Despite that, she remembered he never used his immense strength to hurt her in any way – not even verbally. Rather, she felt how strong he was in the way he held her, in how tightly he squeezed her close to himself, in the way his hand had cupped the back of her so she could hide against him as much as she needed to.

She could recall the sound of his voice and the words he shared with her. When she expected him to tell her vile things about her mentor’s death, he instead offered her measured words of both respect and consolation.

When she couldn’t speak any longer, his silence spoke for him as well. In his arms, she could vividly remember how easy it was to fall apart.

In his eyes, she could remember how safe he made her feel.

She closed her eyes at the thought only for images of him and his sunset hues to flash before her mind’s eye. She groaned at his image and brought a hand to her face as she recalled his intricacies. Rubbing at her eyes and cheeks, she recalled his bewildering care for her, how sympathetic he was to her situation, and a part of her continued to question if any of it was real at all.

Did any of that actually happen? Was it all truly real?

Did a demon of Muzan’s twelve Kizuki really comfort her last night?

Did the third Upper Moon truly try to nurse her back to health in his lonely cabin after protecting her from a rampaging demon?

Did he really care about the way he touched her? About the way he spoke to her?

Did he really take her out to a hidden lake in the woods where he allowed her to spill her heart out to someone for the first time in the real world?

He should be her number one target. As a Demon Slayer, he was someone she was meant to eradicate from this world. He should be someone she hated with every fiber of her being, especially considering what he had done to Rengoku, but when she thought of him, all she felt was…loss. Loss and confusion as well as a new, small feeling of longing and warmth.

“What the hell is wrong with me…?” She whispered aloud, groaning against the palm of her hand before allowing it to fall onto the bedsheets.

Last night was very real, and she didn’t know what she was supposed to make of it now. Demon and human interacted in the cover of night as if they had known each other for decades. It made her a traitor to humanity, she was aware, but…why couldn’t she see it that way as well? Why couldn’t hate surface at the image of him in her mind?

Why did she feel unhappy that she hadn’t woken up to the sight of him sitting in front of his irori pit, stirring another nasty medicinal tea for her?

The sound of footsteps in the hallway pulled her attention away from her own ceaseless, unthinkable questioning and drew it towards the door. It opened with a soft creak, and a familiar face walked inside. It took her a moment to recall, but she soon recognized she was one of the village’s few healers she remembered speaking to when she brought injured villagers to their recovery rooms. Momoko, she remembered was her name. In her hands, she noticed she was carrying a tray with what appeared to be a plate of onigiri and a steaming cup of something to drink.

Tea, probably.

“You’re awake!” Momoko chimed, a bright smile angling her lips when she caught sight of the Slayer seated upright in bed. “I’m so glad to see you up again! We were all so worried about you, but I knew you’d wake up in the morning!”

_______ observed her, a perplexed look befalling her as the young woman approached her bedside with such zealous vigor. 

“Where am I, Momoko? What happened? Why were you all worried about me?”

“You mean you don’t remember?” Momoko shook her head and frowned at her sympathetically. “No, that’s right – how could you? You were so beaten up when we found you…It’s no wonder you can’t remember anything…We found you at dawn by the entrance of the village. It looked like you had dragged yourself out of the woods after fighting off the demons all night. We guessed you must’ve collapsed from exhaustion before you could make it back to one of us healers. To tell you the truth, we don’t know what happened while you were away. We noticed your room was empty in the early evening, but by then, you had been out for quite some time.” Sheepishly, she averted her gaze to the tray in her hands. “None of us were brave of enough to go beyond the village to find you…We assumed you had gone with some kind of plan to help protect the village, and we thought we would only be a burden to you if we got in the way by sending anyone after you, so we chose to wait until dawn for you return. If you hadn’t shown up, we didn’t know what we were going to do…” A deep sigh of relief left her. “Thank God, we found you safe and sound in the morning…”

Momoko paused for a few seconds after that, her gaze still set on the bed’s comforters. _______, taken aback by the tale, didn’t know how to react at first. She simply stared at the village healer, bewildered by the tale, and watched as a saddened and guilt riddled frown took hold of her expression.

All of a sudden, Momoko tightened her grip on the tray in her hands, closed her eyes tight and deeply bowed her head in respect to the recuperating Slayer before her.

“Because of how hard you must’ve fought through the night all on your own, the village was safe from attack for the first time in months! Throughout the entire evening, not a single demon was spotted nor were there any reports of villagers injured or going missing! Whatever you did worked, and for the first time in a long time, we were able to sleep peacefully in our homes without the fear of losing any of our loved ones! Thank you! From all of us here in Tatsukawa Village, we can never thank you enough for how bravely you’ve battled and how many times you’ve risked your life on our behalf!”

_______’s eyes widened and gooseflesh rose upon her arms as she allowed the healer’s words of deep gratitude to sink in. A mix of bewilderment and horror formed a massive, tight knot at the pit of her stomach, and all at once, it felt like the world was caving in on her again.

She…hadn’t done a single thing last night to fight any demon off. For weeks, she had been stationed in the village, fighting with all her might from the very first day she arrived – back when one used to be three. Those days, however, are a figment of the past now.

_______ was the lone Slayer in charge of protecting Tatsukawa Village up to date. It became apparent to her that, no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn’t be able to complete the mission her friends left in her hands before she was able to join them where they’ve gone. Thus, before making her trek into the cedar woods, she had sent off her Kasugai Crow to call for reinforcements. Her greatest hope was that the demons in the forest would be too distracted by her wandering between the cedars to really care for the villagers that one night. Effectively, she had planned to use herself as a sacrifice to keep the village safe while they waited for a new squad of Slayers to arrive so as to complete the work she could no longer carry on her shoulders. 

Yet, things very clearly didn’t go the way she had planned.

The demons found their interest in her, yes, but that didn’t last long at all. When she crossed paths with Akaza, they avoided him like a plague.

Nevertheless, the village was still safe.

Nobody was missing, and nobody was hurt – not even herself.

How…?

Before she could say anything in response to Momoko, the young woman stood up straight and extended the tray of food towards her, resting it upon her lap. The smile she bore beforehand had returned to her much softer, a look of gratitude radiating from her being.

“Because of you, our village knew a night of peace once again after months spent in fear of the dark. Thank you for being the answer to so many prayers. Thank you to you and your friends, may they rest in everlasting peace. Nobody here will ever forget what you’ve all done for us. So, thank you. I promise we healers will take the best care of you that we are able to provide. Please,” She beckoned to the food on the tray. “Enjoy this breakfast we put together for you. It isn’t much, but we weren’t sure how well you would be feeling for a meal after the state you were in. We put together some Kombu Onigiri for you along with a nice steaming cup of tea. Don’t be shy and eat as little or as much as you’d like! I’ll come back in a little while to clean up and bring you some medicine to help with the pain.”

With one last, thankful bow of the head, Momoko turned on her heels and left, leaving _______ with just the sound of the creaking door and the chirping birds outside, the distant chitter-chatter of bystanders mere white-noise to her.

For several seconds, she stared at the door to her room with that same large-eyed, dumbfounded look on her face, still trying so very hard to properly understand the barrage of information that was just given to her.

As each and every single word echoed and reverberated in her mind repetitively, her breathing quickened steadily until she was nearly to the point of hyperventilating. Her eyes quickly filled with bitter, stinging tears, but before a cry could threaten to loosen itself from her raw, scratchy throat, both of her hands shot up to firmly cover her mouth.

Into her open palms, she muffled her whimpered, broken sobs as the tears of a pathetic waste of life rolled down the skin of her cheeks for the millionth time.

She tightly closed her eyes as she wept into her palms, hiccupping and trying with all her might to catch up to her own breathing while doing her best to be as quiet as possible.

How could she do this to these poor, sweet people?

How could she be such a terrible person?

They thanked her.

They praised her.

They took care of her.

They saw her as some kind of blessing.

Yet, all she could see when she looked at herself was a coward.

An obstacle.

A waste of breath.

A disgusting hypocrite.

She didn’t deserve any of their kindness, didn’t deserve a single word of praise nor hospitality. She should’ve been left for dead, but here she is, alive once again. Rather than getting what she so clearly deserved, she was spared one more time, and now, all she could do was hopelessly wail over her own insufficiencies and faults against her hands towards the open skies beyond her window.

“W-why, Akaza? Why didn’t you just kill me when you had the chance…?”

~¤ ¤ ¤~

The rest of the day felt like a foggy fever dream to _______.

After Momoko had left her alone in her room that morning, she had cried her eyes raw and red for as long as she could muster the tears. At some point, they stopped coming no matter how miserable and guilty she felt, and from then on, she felt nothing but gray.

She shut down. She felt like she had gone through an entire lifetime in the course of just twenty-four hours, and she was exhausted from it all. She didn’t want to feel anything anymore, so she did everything within herself to prevent those emotions from resurfacing. Around others, this was an easy enough task. Nobody asked her about why her eyes were red and puffy whenever anybody would walk into her room to check on her, which was something she was grateful for. She was so used to hiding everything she felt, that doing so around the villagers was practically instinctual to her by now.

She could manage being alive when people came to speak with her like the village head, or when the healers came to check on her or offer her some kind of medicine. When she was around the others, she could force a smile and hold conversation for a short while until they would be on their way to let her rest – but when that door closed behind them, it left her trapped with culpability, regret and self-loathing.

To top it all off, mixed within that terrible concoction of dreadful emotions was also the thoughts, images and recent memories of the demon of the Upper Moons.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t bring herself to stop thinking about him throughout the entirety of the day. It didn’t matter what kind of mood she was in at any given time; Akaza would arise in her mind regardless of whether she was faking peace or just mourning the loss of it on her own.

Where is he now?

Is he still in the cedar woods?

Was he the one who left her at the entrance of Tatsukawa Village?

Did he have something to do with the constant attacks on the village?

Why did he take such good care of her?

Why did he care about the way she felt, emotionally and physically?

How was it possible that a demon like him would come to share such kindness and compassion with a human like her?

Silence was the only answer she ever received to her questions, but she continued to find new ones to ask herself even as day leisurely turned to night.

By the time the moon rose above the clouds beyond her window, Momoko returned to her bedroom to say goodnight and ask if she needed anything before she went to bed. The only thing _______ asked for was to have her window opened, so as to watch over the village better and to feel the evening’s cool breeze.

It was now far passed midnight, and she couldn’t bring herself to sleep; she had been too afraid of what she would dream of if she allowed her head to fall on her pillow. Instead, she remained seated in bed for hours into the night, resting her back against a pillow she propped on the bedframe behind her. Beyond her open window, she watched as stray dark clouds joined the moon and the stars in the night sky. Despite their presence, the clouds did little to obstruct the view off the full moon hanging over the world, lighting up darkened paths with its counterfeit shine.

All night, anxiety had wracked her body, thinking there would be an onslaught of demons falling upon the villagers’ homes now that she was no longer in the woods to distract them all. However, for hours, nothing happened. She simply paid witness to the world passing her by. The villagers went about their day, mingling with neighbors and loved ones, exchanging affectionate gestures or a few words by dingy home fences. With time, the crowds of people thinned until only a few stragglers walked down the dirt roads, but even they eventually wandered out of view.

It appeared that, for another night, Tastukawa Village would be able to sleep in peace.

Still, _______ watched the world, though she no longer knew whether she was keeping a vigilant watch or simply existing in the dark.

As her eyes fixated on the moon above, her head lulled towards her shoulder on her pillow. It had never looked so unfamiliar to her before the way it did this evening. She didn’t know if it was the same moon she gazed upon anymore, for all she saw when her eyes locked on its brilliant splendor was a liar trying desperately to blend in with the twinkling stars at its side.

“It must be hard,” She whispered to the moon. “Living up to that lie all the time. Do you ever get tired of it? Do the stars ever notice just how dim you really are? I guess he had a point in one thing…If it weren’t for the sun, you really would just be a big floating rock in the sky.”

Her expression fell as the words left her and a breath escaped passed her lips as she kept the moon solemn company. Her eyes softened at the twinkling of the stars, and as they did, a soft breeze swept through her window to playfully ruffle her hair and cool her skin. Unable to help herself, she took in a deep breath of the fresh evening air and slowly closed her aching, tired eyes to rest by the moon’s side for just a few minutes. The breeze picked up once again, stronger this time, and enveloped her within its wispy arms, encouraging her to lower herself properly in bed for the night despite the anxiety of what would come attached with rest.

As she turned her body towards her open window, she could hear the chittering of leaves belonging to the cedar woods in the distance, calling her name in a longing, mysterious whisper.

Within the strong embrace of the breeze and beneath the watchful gaze of the moon and stars, she fell asleep to the image of sunset hues by an untouched lake deep within those cedar woods.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for making it this far! I hope you enjoyed this chapter to my Akaza fic! :D If you're eager for more, consider checking out the story on any of my cross-posting sites! They're up to date with the recent chapter, so you'll have two more parts to read aside from this one! :D Thanks so much for the support! Much love as always and God bless! <3

#fanfic #akaza #akaza comfort #akaza fanfic #akaza x reader #akaza x y/n #angst #angst and comfort #ao3 author #ao3 fanfic #cross posted on quotev #cross posted on ao3 #cross posted on wattpad #demon slayer fanfic #kimetsu no yaiba #kimetsu no yaiba fanfic #rengoku #rengoku kyojuro #kny fanfic

[sugarcxbe250]

Attempts...|| {Xiao X GN!Reader}

Warning's: I might mess up on the pronouns since I don't write GN! Reader often... Please tell me if I did!! Maybe a OOC (Out of character) and not really edited. Just slightly skimmed and enhanced by my friend!

Italic means thoughts!

3rd person pov:

        Y/N was just a your normal Liyue citizen. They were a student trying to get more information about the Yaksha's that protect Liyue. Unfortunately for them, they were a BIG procrastinator... Their paper was due today. Y/N ran around scrambling to find resources with useful information that they could use. They let out a big sigh. "UGHHH... Why do I do this?" they groaned out in boredom. Lumine chuckled at their friend. "Hey! It's not funny! Please Lumine just help me..!" Y/N desperately pleaded. "Why should I?" Lumine smirked and started laughing. "PLEASE LUMINE I'LL DO ANYTHING!" Y/N once again started pleading in despair. "I'm not too familiar with that topic myself, but I do know a Yaksha..." Lumine briefly explained. "YES LUMINE MY SAVIOUR!!" Y/N filled to the brim with relief and happiness. "But~ You said you'd do anything right?" Lumine innocently blinked at the other, smile filled with mischief. "I- Okay but that depends." Y/N said. "Okay, I'll summon him right now... But don't get mad if he doesn't share any info." Lumine warned. "XIAOOOOOO!?" Lumine screamed, summoning the Yaksha. The anemo (AN EMO) yaksha stood there staring at Lumine dissatisfied with her useless call. "What do want?" he sneered. "My friend just wants some help with their paper... We just need a decent amount of info on the yaksha's." Lumine explained. "Hmph... Fine... But you need to make me almond tofu as payment." Xiao scoffed. "OH EM GEE! THANK YOU I WILL MAKE AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE XIAO" Y/N gratefully thanked Xiao. This mortal... So... Chaotic... Xiao silently thought. He started talking about the yakshas. But for some reason he can't feel a but feel a little bit more at ease with you. Maybe it was just something else. Y/N quickly scribbled down notes and thanked Xiao once again. Y/N was gonna have to learn to make almond tofu to thank Xiao now.

First person pov:

        “How do I make almond tofu?” You mumbled quietly to yourself. Taking a look on the ingredients on your table you realize you can't find your recipe... "Oh come on!" you scream out in frustration. Just how could this get worse! You scrambled around. Attempting to find another copy. You looked everywhere! Just when you were about to give up, you picked up the bag of almonds and there was the recipe. Right under the almonds... Opps... You let out a sigh of relief as you started getting to work. Chucking the almonds, tofu and milk into the pot. Turn up the heat and wait for around 17.49 seconds. Turn off the heat and now... You have it! A average tasting Almond tofu!! You hurried to find traveler before it gets cold.

        "Traveler! Get over here! I have Xiao's payment." you happily skipped. "Oh! Hi Y/N! I'm so proud of you! It doesn't smell burnt!" Lumine smiled. "HEY! MY COOKING IS JUST FINE THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" I glared at Lumine. "XIAOO!" Lumine screamed, instantly summoning the yaksha. “Hmph. Another unworthy call.” XIAO glared at the both of you. “Ahaha…. Here’s your payment!” You smiled warmly at the yaksha, handing over the almond tofu. Xiao took the container out of your hands and took the utensil you brought. He took a bite before insulting your food (not really but just me exaggerating) and teleporting away. “Oh…. I worked so hard on that.” You looked down in dissatisfaction with the reaction. “Y/N… It was just constructive criticism!” Lumine deadpanned. “Yeah, I know… I need to master this recipe! Lumine! Please help me!” You pleaded once again. “Sorry, I’m busy right now…” Lumine said with a blank face. Huh! What a shame! 

If I make a mistake on the GN theme please tell me immediately so I can fix it!! Again thank you so much for your support!~<3333 I'm really happy to see that you enjoy my content!!~<33333333333 -Your sweetest Sugarcxbe !! Jk!~

#genshin x reader #genshin impact fluff #genshin fanfic #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact #Xiao #genshin fluff #gn reader #Cross posting from Quotev #Pt.1

[palefox-7]

you are my sunshine- chapter 1

“Clean up, clean up…” Sundrop hums to himself as he sweeps away glitter and the backs of stickers.

He hums a soft, soothing rhythm as he cleans the playcare, until he suddenly pauses when he hears quiet sniffling.

“Hello??” He calls out.

He hears a noise, as if someone is trying to move to a better hiding space. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you! Come on out!” Sundrop says cheerfully.

Sundrop is surprised when he sees a little boy crawl out from under the slide.

“Hello! Are we having a sleepover? Where’s all your friends?” Sundrop asks.

“N-no…My mum left me…” The little boy responds, rubbing tears away from his eyes.

“She left you?” Sundrop replies, surprised.

The little boy nods, sniffling.

“That’s awful! Would you like to stay here with me while I figure out who to send you home with?” Sundrop asks.

“Y-yes, please.” The little boy replies.

“Okay! I’m Sundrop, what’s your name?” Sundrop asks.

“My name’s Apollo.” The boy replies.

Sundrop grins, and extends a hand towards Apollo. “Okay, new friend! Let’s go play!”

End of chapter 1.

#cross posted on ao3 #crossposted on quotev #sun and moon show #fanfic #fnaf fanfic #Tw hinted child neglect #sundrop #moondrop